Editorial: Toll Justice
Tolls. To paraphrase the late Ronald Reagan, “There they go again.” The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which controls all the access from New Jersey to the nation’s largest city, has slapped trucks with higher tolls that will skyrocket 163% by 2015 to $105.
From this week’s issue: Trucking Exec Warns Congress on Tolls’ Onerous Costs.
The thing that makes the New York-New Jersey tolls especially onerous is that they’re not aimed mainly at fixing, maintaining or improving the bridges and tunnels where they’re collected. You see, the N.Y.-N.J. Port Authority also operates airports and seaports and is in the real estate business. A big chunk of the tolls that trucks will pay when they deliver into New York City will go to the Port Authority’s other enterprises, although officials have been cagey about exactly how they will spend the additional revenue.
They initially said it would help fund reconstruction of the World Trade Center office building, but after AAA filed a lawsuit, they changed their tune and said it would pay for other things.
Meanwhile, the states of Virginia and North Carolina are seeking to impose tolls on their sections of Interstate 95, one of the busiest highways in the country. I-95 in those states isn’t tolled now, and it’s not at all certain that the tolls, which would be part of a pilot project, would get federal approval. But if they do go through, they’ll add costs for truckers, shippers and ultimately for consumers.
Now, we’re not completely against tolls. Sometimes, they are the only feasible way to finance vital projects. We’re not even against toll increases. But increases should be reasonable, they should be justified by legitimate increases in costs and they should be related to the maintenance or improvement of the facility that’s being tolled. Toll authorities shouldn’t be allowed to use bridges, highways and tunnels as cash cows to finance pet projects or to float state budgets that are awash in a sea of red ink.
But even for needed highway construction, tolls are terribly inefficient. They require new infrastructure for toll plazas, electronic collection and auditing facilities, and salaries, so a big chunk of what you pay to use those toll roads doesn’t actually pay for concrete and asphalt.
A fairer, more efficient way to increase revenue for needed highway work would be to raise fuel taxes. The collection mechanism is already in place, and it works efficiently, with about 98% of the money collected actually paying for road work.
