Corzine plan may take heavy toll on local traffic
Plan to increase tolls may lead vehicles to take side roads instead
BY CHRIS GAETANO Staff Writer
Gov. Jon Corzine's plan to dramatically increase tolls on the Turnpike, Parkway and Atlantic City Expressway, as well as placing a toll on Route 440, has some people worried about the impact the proposal might have on nearby nontoll roads.

Gov. Jon Corzine

The scrutiny comes in the wake of the governor's controversial plan to address the state's $32 billion debt. Much of this proposal relies on using toll revenues to pay off New Jersey's creditors as well as fund various road improvement projects. First outlined during his State of the State address on Jan. 8, the plan involves at least four 50 percent toll increases, starting in 2010 and continuing in 2014, 2018 and 2022. After that, tolls would continue to increase every four years to keep up with inflation until 2085. The roads would be overseen by what has been called a Public Benefits Corp., an independent entity that will issue bonds that would be paid off by the increased toll revenue. The money gained would then be used to pay about half of the state's debt, with the remainder going into funding road improvements.

Local traffic may increase

While the plan also includes numerous adjustments to the state's internal fiscal policies, such as the institution of a spending freeze, the toll hikes have emerged as the most visible part of the proposal in many people's minds. Some municipalities, especially ones located near toll roads, have expressed concern that the plan might increase traffic, especially from large trucks, on the state roads that run near them. Still, many are taking a wait-and-see approach before making a definitive stand one way or the other.

"We are [concerned] because in the past, whenever there have been toll increases on the Turnpike, more and more trucks and vehicles travel the state highways and also the county and municipal roadways as well," said Ron Schmalz, public affairs coordinator for South Brunswick Township, which houses Turnpike Exit 8A, one of the most heavily trafficked areas on that road for large trucks. "We understand the financial problems the state has, but in the past it's always put more vehicles onto the state highway system and in turn the county system and municipal streets,"

John Hagerty, communications director for Woodbridge Township, which is very close to the Turnpike, Parkway and Route 440, said that the administration there is still observing the situation before deciding what to do.

Jerry Barca, communications director for Edison Township, in which Route 440 also plays a large role, had similar sentiments, saying that comments were being held until more details were forthcoming.

David Weinstein, a spokesperson with AAA, said that traffic increases accompanying toll hikes, across the board for both com- muters and trucks, was "accepted reality" and that concerns of cars diverting from toll roads to local roads are well-founded.

"There is definitely diversion from toll roads after toll hikes, for a couple reasons. Some people refuse to pay the increase, some people cannot pay the increase, and certainly those people who choose to do that use the local roads, the county roads, the state roads, instead of the toll roads. This is an accepted reality," said Weinstein.

He added that historically, the consequent spikes in traffic have usually leveled out over time, but because this latest toll increase is so high and over such a sustained period, the diversion from toll roads might last much longer than before.

Martin Robins, a senior fellow at the Alan Voorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers University, disagreed with the assessment that traffic would uniformly increase for both cars and trucks if there is a toll increase. He said that commuters tend to value their time more than their money and so would be less likely to divert from the toll roads. He said that truck traffic, however, is a different story. Robins said that past toll increases have resulted in a greater number of large trucks taking state roads such as Route 1 or Route 130 as alternate routes, due to their costs being higher than a typical commuter's costs.

"In the early '90's, the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, during the Florio administration, raised the tolls on trucks very substantially, and the result was there was a significant loss of traffic … and the trucks went on other roads in the state," said Robins.

He said this was ironic, given that roads such as the Turnpike are "ideally suited" for truck traffic. Robins also noted that increased truck traffic on state, county and local roads has usually been a source of chagrin for many people, and that should more trucks be diverted off toll roads, this dissatisfaction could increase.

"There's a history in New Jersey of lots of anger about trucks being diverted, using smaller highways that weren't designed for trucks, and the most famous and obvious of those cases is Route 31 that operates in Mercer County and Hunterdon County. There's a whole history of lawsuits and rules trying to keep trucks off it, and one of the reasons that Route 31 became a problem was because the Turnpike raised those tolls in the first place," said Robins.

Pete Daly, a spokesperson for Mercer County, said that from an anecdotal perspective, there had been a noticeable increase in truck traffic on Route 31, though not of such a scale that serious concern was warranted. He noted that for residents, trucks on the roads are more a quality-of-life issue. At the moment, he said, the county, like some municipalities, is taking a wait-and-see approach before taking a stance on the proposal.

Trucking industry impacts

Gail Toth, executive director of the New Jersey Motor Truck Association, an organization that represents truckers in the state, said that concerns of increased truck traffic on nontoll roads were "scare tactics" and that trucks account for only 10 percent of interstate traffic. Toth said that truckers would probably stay on roads such as the Turnpike, with minimal diversions to side roads and state highways, because they are more efficient.

"Freight haulers will probably stay on the Turnpike, predominantly. … The reason we stay on the Turnpike is that it's a good system to be on, and those are the roads we should and want to be on," said Toth.

She did note, though, that during previous

toll increases, truckers did go onto secondary, nontoll roads more often, but quickly pointed out that it is their legal right to do so. The bigger concern for her is that "at least a million" trucks just stopped using the Turnpike entirely. This doesn't mean that those million trucks started to use only side roads, she said, but that they may have just stopped driving through the state entirely.

"The region is outpricing itself, and we need to be concerned because we'll outprice ourselves out of the market, and we used to be a great logistic state…[but] do you think anyone's going to want to be there if the tolls are so high? They'll just move out of state. We'll be like New York City, where no one will want to drive into the state, like no one wants to drive into the city," said Toth.

Mike Joyce, with the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, an organization representing independent truckers, agreed with the assessment, saying that many independent truckers have very low profit margins after accounting for things such as gas, and said toll increases could result in truckers either taking more nontoll state roads or simply avoiding New Jersey altogether.

"Their profit margins, if they even have any, are slim to nil, and their ability to capture or recapture increases in tolls is very, very difficult in a competitive environment, so sometimes they have to suck up the cost to even make a living. … Our guys will try to find the least expensive route," said Joyce.

Something that should be worrying New Jersey residents more than the potential for increased truck traffic, according to Toth, is the potential for increased prices for any goods transported by trucks. She said the increases in tolls will lead trucking companies to increase their own prices to make up for it, leading the retailers utilizing their services, in turn, to increase the prices on their products to make up for that increase.

"One of my members, a very large retail grocery store, pays $100,000 a month to E-ZPass. … Just the first increase in 2010 would put his bill up to $150,000. … These food haulers, these company fleets, private fleets, will need to figure out how to come up with that extra $50,000 per month. Where does everyone think that money is going to come from? They'll have to raise prices," said Toth.

Political Hurdles

Corzine will need to effectively sell his proposal if he expects it to get anywhere. While he has enlisted the help of former Congressman Bob Franks to help push the initiative through, his plan has received a cool reception from members of the public. Lawmakers, meanwhile, are asking the governor to testify on the details of his plan, saying they need more information on what its overall ramifications will be.

"If this [proposal] is designed to cure our fiscal ills, we really need to see what's on every shelf in the medicine cabinet," said state Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex), chair of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee. "In the initial stops on his public tour, the governor has been upfront and knowledgeable, but now we'll need to examine what's beyond the labels.

"We've heard about the tolls and we've heard about the need to keep political influence out of the process," Buono said. "But we also need answers about other components of the plan, like the call to keep state spending flat and how that will affect the overall budget. We have to balance the competing priorities of our constituents every day in the Legislature," she added.