rap #269 10/09/08
VICARI OPPOSES PLANNED PARKWAY TOLL HIKES; ASKS FOR PUBLIC HEARING IN SHORE AREA
CONTROVERSIAL PLANS BY the New Jersey Turnpike Authority to hike tolls on the Garden State Parkway by more than 40
percent should be shelved, at least until public hearings are scheduled in the Shore area, Freeholder Director Joseph H.
Vicari said.
“This outrageous plan by the NJTA just got worse,” Vicari said following reports that the NJTA commissioners
scheduled a special meeting for Friday afternoon to vote on the toll hike. The meeting will begin less than three hours
after the final public hearing on the proposal concludes.
Vicari and Freeholder Gerry P. Little fired off a letter to Authority Chairman Kris Kolluri insisting that the
toll hike idea be abandoned, or at least delayed until additional public hearings can be scheduled.
Vicari and Little said that motorists have had only three opportunities to comment on the plan, and none of the
meetings have been convenient for Ocean County residents.
“Ocean County has the largest stretch of the Garden State Parkway. Thousands upon thousands of our residents commute on
a
daily basis to their workplace,” Vicari and Little said in the letter. “As the NJTA is fully aware, this toll plan
proposal would hit hardest the motorists of Ocean County who are centrally located and must pass through numerous toll
barriers on their daily commutes.”
Vicari and Little joined Ocean County’s legislators in asking for a locally held public hearing.
“We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Ocean County lawmakers in demanding a public hearing for our residents and in
objecting to the proposed toll increase of more than 40 percent that will be placed on the backs of our hard working
families and senior citizens,” Vicari and Little said in the letter.
The freeholders also expressed concern that while Ocean County motorists will again be asked to pay more, the money from
the toll hike will not benefit local drivers.
“It is particularly troubling that a significant portion of this proposed toll increase is to be used to pay for a second
Hudson rail tunnel to New York City to meet New Jersey’s $1.25 billion share for the project,” Vicari and Little said in
the letter. “Ocean County residents will be paying a disproportionate share of that tunnel, when, at the same time,
state funding for our transportation infrastructure needs has been historically, and remains, totally inadequate. This
Board and the people of our county for decades have called upon the State to modernize the Route 9 corridor, Route 35,
Route 70, Route 72, Route 88 and to move forward on the long-awaited MOM passenger rail line.”
Vicari and Little faxed the letter to Kolluri’s officer Thursday afternoon.
