Murphy backs turnpike, parkway toll hikes after months of relative silence

Gov. Phil Murphy is all in on toll hikes.

Despite maintaining a relatively non-committal stance on toll increases to the N.J. Turnpike and Garden State Parkway, Gov. Phil Murphy on Wednesday indicated he would not veto the Turnpike Authority’s minutes, virtually guaranteeing that hikes the board passed Wednesday morning will go into effect.

“I’m not doing this because it’s necessarily popular, and I appreciate enormously the strain that folks are under right now. That’s not in question. It never has been in question,” Murphy said. “But we need a state that’s standing here a year from now, five years from now, 10 years from now.”

Earlier Wednesday, the New Jersey Turnpike Authority board unanimously approved a plan that would raise tolls on the turnpike by 36% and by 27% on the parkway during a virtual meeting.

The funds raised by the higher tolls are expected to fund expansions on both freeways, including projects to increase turnpike capacity around in Essex and Bergen Counties.

The plan was backed by many of the state’s labor groups, who lauded the toll increases, predicting they would create jobs as the state’s jobless figures hit their highest mark since record keeping began 44 years ago.

“Today’s decision to move forward with the capital plans is a welcome one for our members and an important step forward in rebuilding New Jersey’s economy,” Engineers Labor-Employer Cooperative chairman Greg Lavelee said. “We can safely work to overhaul our infrastructure during this pandemic, and both capital plans will help us accomplish that goal. This goes far beyond creating thousands of good-paying jobs — it’s also about providing the foundation for our economy to grow. We applaud Governor Murphy, Commissioner Gutierrez-Scaccetti and the Authorities for doing the right thing and approving these capital plans.”

Murphy sought to minimize the unions’ impact on his support, instead pointing to the possible economic gains associated with higher transit capacity along the Acela corridor.

“Yes, we’re a proud union state, and we wear that as a badge of honor, but this is also about maximizing the hand that we have been dealt,” Murphy said.  “We have so underplayed that hand for so long and it has hurt us in so many ways in our economy — in exactly the part of the economy that’s hurting right now: the middle class and those, as I was growing up, dreaming of someday getting into that middle class.”

Despite Murphy’s rosy view, Wednesday’s vote has already drawn some criticism.

“It is completely astounding that the Turnpike Authority believed they should move forward with this toll hike process. We are in the midst of a pandemic. Loved ones have been lost. People have been confined to their homes for more than two months. Hundreds of thousands are currently worrying about whether their businesses will be able to reopen in time for their livelihood to be saved,” State Sen. Decland O’Scanlon (R-Little Silver), Assemblywoman Serena DiMaso (R-Holmdel) and Assemblyman Gerard Scharfenberger (R-Middletown) said in a joint statement.

That criticism, so far, has been limited to Republican lawmakers, though environmental advocates and some others who fall squarely within Democratic spheres of influence opposed the hikes.

“Bureaucrats who control our highways are quietly fast-tracking massive toll hikes on New Jersey drivers when nobody is looking,” said State Sen. Kip Bateman (R-Neshanic Station). “While our daily commutes may look different today, these toll increases will slam drivers with higher costs as our state reopens, making the New Jersey an even more expensive place to live, work, and raise a family. There has been nothing transparent about the process. It’s absolutely shameful.”

This story was updated with comment from Greg Lavelee at 6:15 p.m.