The Progression of South Jersey Bridge Tolls

New Jersey is unique in having five publicly- owned intrastate toll bridges in the southeastern portion of the State. These bridges connect 40 miles of coastal highways between Cape May and Longport Point and are managed by the Cape May County Bridge Commission.
The commission was established in 1934, with the express purpose of having the means to apply for funds from the Federal Government to construct publicly owned coastal highway toll bridges and highway approaches. The intent was to build the bridges without any cost to Cape May County and to have tolls pay for collection and maintenance expenses.
The bridges are:
• The Middle Thorofare Bridge, which spans the Jarvis Sound and connects Cape May with Wildwood Crest. It was opened to traffic on June 13, 1940. The car toll is $1.50 in a southbound direction. In 2008 it carried 620 thousand vehicles.
• The Grassy Sound Bridge, which spans the Grassy Sound and connects North Wildwood with Stone Harbor. It was opened to traffic on June 13, 1940. The car toll is $1.50 in a northbound direction. In 2008 it carried 180,000 vehicles.
• The Townsends Inlet Bridge, which spans the Townsends Inlet and connects Avalon, and Sea Isle City. It was opened to traffic June 13, 1940. The car toll is $1.50 in a southbound direction. In 2008 it carried 470,000 vehicles.
• The Corsons Inlet Bridge, which spans Corsons Inlet and connects Strathmere with Ocean City. It was opened to traffic on July 31, 1948. The car toll is $1.50 in a northbound direction. In 2008 it carried 350,000 vehicles.
• The Ocean City-Longport Bridge, spans the Great Egg Harbor Inlet and connects Ocean City with Longport. The original bridge was opened to traffic in 1927. A replacement bridge was built between 1999 and 2002 and opened to traffic on July 19, 2002. The car toll is $1.50 in a southbound direction. In 2008 it carried 780,000 vehicles.
The first four bridges were built in the 1940s for a total of about $5 million. The fifth bridge (Ocean City-Longport) was built in 1927 and sold to the Cape May Commission in 1946 for $720,000. By 1993, the bridge’s deterioration was a safety concern for drivers and resulted in a replacement bridge built between 1999 and 2002, for a cost of about $50 million taxpayer dollars. Yet, it’s a toll bridge.
In an effort to reduce collection expenses, the commission introduced one-way tolls (between 2002 and 2005), and closed the toll collection from May 15 to October 15 on the Grassy Sound Bridge. They also closed the toll collection on several bridges from midnight to 6 a.m.
Yet in 2007, the cost to collect the toll revenue for these five bridges was actually higher than the toll revenue that was collected (i.e., the toll collection expense was $2.9 million while the toll revenue was $2.6 million). One wonders why they even have tolls, since they collected less revenue than it cost to collect it.
Of course the mere thought of collecting revenues is a temptation. So in a brilliant move of financial wizardry the commission increased toll levels 50 percent on Feb. 1, 2009.
In December, 2008, the County of Cape May purchased the Beesley’s Point Bridge for $1. The bridge spans the Great Egg Harbor River and connects Upper Township in Cape May County with Somers Point in Atlantic County. It had been run as a privately-owned toll bridge by the Beesley’s Point Bridge Commission.
It closed in 2003 because the owner was unable to fund the needed repairs. The cost to repair the bridge is estimated to be about $20 million. The New Jersey Department of Transportation has agreed to pay the full debt service for the first three years, while needed repairs are made to reopen the bridge.
After that, the State will continue to pay 60 percent of the cost, while future tolls will pay for the other 40 percent. The bridge is scheduled to open to traffic in 2012. It will then become the sixth toll bridge under the control of the commission.
With thousands of toll-free intra-state bridges in New Jersey, one can only imagine how much gridlock, and how high the collection cost would be, if they all had tolls on them.
In 2000, Ahlers joined an ad-hoc committee called Citizens Against Tolls, whose primary goal was the elimination of tolls on the Garden State Parkway. Although public complacency over tolls appears to have returned, the risk of future high toll increases and/or the addition of tolls on non-tolls roads, or even the sale of toll roads, continues. With encouragement from friends and family, he put together a manuscript on the waste caused by tolls, such as high collection costs, toll plaza accidents, additional pollution, loss of matching Federal highway funds, road congestion and wasted gasoline.