Machine politicians love toll roads because tolls are a great way to generate patronage jobs and slush money. Toll roads are also a remarkably inefficient way to collect taxes, and eliminating tolls will not only save us the expense of collecting tolls, it will allow us to obtain millions of dollars in matching federal highway funds that are not available for roads that have tolls. What’s more, eliminating toll roads will reduce congestion, reduce pollution, reduce the number and severity of accidents and we’ll also save gas – a whole lot of gas.
Within my first 120 days as Governor, I will appoint a bipartisan committee to present a plan to eliminate the tolls on the Garden State Parkway by July 1st, 2011, and to eliminate all roadway tolls in NJ by July 1st, 2013. Toll roads cost you time, cost you money, waste gas, pollute our environment, make driving more dangerous, and help feed the culture of corruption – it’s time to eliminate toll roads in NJ.
