36 years of the same conversation — and New Jersey tolls just keep going up

Here's something that might make your next drive on the Turnpike a little more frustrating than usual.

When the New Jersey Turnpike Authority was created in 1948, the tolls were written into law as a temporary user fee — a way to pay off construction bonds, after which the road was supposed to become part of the state's free highway system. The bonds got paid off decades ago. The tolls didn't go away. And in 2020, the Turnpike Authority approved automatic 3% annual toll increases — no public vote, no debate, just a built-in annual extraction compounding quietly every January 1st.

We talked about it on The Judi & EJ Show today, and Judi pointed out something worth sitting with: New Jersey 101.5 has been covering the toll burden in this state for 36 years. Thirty-six years of the same conversation, the same frustration, the same promises from Trenton — and the tolls just keep going up.

Bergen's plan: eliminate tolls entirely

Republican Assemblyman Brian Bergen of Morris County just introduced a bill that would prohibit tolls on all highways operated by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and the South Jersey Transportation Authority — the Turnpike, the Garden State Parkway, and the Atlantic City Expressway. All of it. Gone.

Bergen's argument is straightforward: a significant portion of what drivers pay in tolls goes toward operating the toll collection system itself — not fixing roads. Drivers without E-ZPass routinely pay nearly double the toll rate, penalizing working families, seniors, and occasional drivers who don't want a government toll account pulling money out of their bank.

"With E-ZPass, the state pulls money out of your account and holds it for months or years before you even use it," Bergen said. "The government gets to hold onto your money interest-free while you wait to spend it."

He's not wrong about that.

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Where the money would come from

Bergen's toll elimination is part of a broader package aimed at reshaping how Trenton spends money. His plan would also eliminate legislative salaries entirely — repealing the 67% pay raise lawmakers voted themselves in the 2024 lame-duck session, boosting their pay from $49,000 to $82,000.

Is any of this going to pass? Almost certainly not — Bergen openly acknowledges the bills are likely dead on arrival with the current leadership. But that's not entirely the point.

Pro-toll callers? Yes, really.

Here's where today's show got interesting. When we opened the phones, something unexpected happened — some callers and app chatters were actually defending the tolls. Defending them. The argument was essentially that the money funds roads, bridges, and NJ Transit, and that without tolls the whole system falls apart.

Judi and I disagreed. Strongly. And that disagreement made for one of the livelier hours we've had in a while.

Here's my position: your toll money isn't just paying for the road under your tires. It's subsidizing $470 million a year for NJ Transit. It's backing a $1.6 billion commitment to the Gateway Tunnel. It goes up automatically every year without anyone asking your permission. The original promise — pay off the road, remove the toll — was broken so long ago that most New Jerseyans don't even know it was ever made.

One lawmaker just reminded us. Whether Trenton is listening is another question entirely.