New York – If AAA has its way at a hearing today, a federal judge will block a toll hike scheduled to take effect next month at bi-state bridges and tunnels run by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
If not, peak-hour tolls will rise by 75 cents for passenger cars with E-ZPass, to $11.75, and go up a dollar for cash customers, to $14.
Today’s hearing on a motion filed last month by AAA is part of a lawsuit filed jointly by the automobile club’s New York and North Jersey chapters in September 2011 in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. The suit seeks to overturn a controversial multi-part toll hike approved that August, asserting that the agency was improperly using the added toll revenues for projects unrelated to its interstate transportation network of bridges, tunnels and the PATH system.
Today’s motion seeks an injunction against the next increment of the toll hike, scheduled to take effect Dec. 7 — the first Sunday of the month — and against the final increment of the hike, scheduled to take effect in December 2015. The 11 a.m. hearing will be at the lower Manhattan federal courthouse before Judge Richard K Eaton.
If the motion is denied tolls will rise as scheduled on the George Washington Bridge and other crossings. This includes a $12 hike for six-axle tractor trailers, bringing the new toll to $96 for truckers with E-ZPass, and $114 for the ones who pay cash.
The original lawsuit cited Port Authority press releases and public statements by agency officials asserting that the tolls would help finance projects including redevelopment of the World Trade Center site. AAA argues that such use would violate the Port Authority’s rules requiring that tolls finance only projects involving the agency’s transportation network.
In Friday’s motion, AAA asserted several other violations, including use of $1.8 billion in Port Authority funds to finance an overhaul of the Pulaski Skyway and Route 1&9 and replacement of the Whitpen Bridge. All are New Jersey Department of Transportation projects being paid for with Port Authority funds originally slated for a Hudson River railway tunnel cancelled in 2010 by Gov. Chris Christie.
John A. Corlett, AAA’s legislative committee chairman for New York State, said the automobile club was looking forward to making its case.
“Tolls should not be raised for the purpose of funding the Pulaski Skyway and other New Jersey state roads,” Corlett said in a statement.
The motion also asserts that the $1.3 billion Bayonne Bridge roadway raising, while clearly involving a Port Authority interstate transportation facility, is actually a port project benefitting the local shipping industry.
And, the motion asserts, $3.8 billion in the agency’s $27.6 billion capital plan is not connected to any project.
A Port Authority has declined to comment on the AAA motion. Regarding the broader law suit, Port Authority lawyers have argued that the agency’s toll revenues feed into a general fund, and cannot not be associated with any specific projects. The agency has also insisted that its interstate transportation network runs an annual deficit, and therefore its revenues could not be used to finance other projects.
Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.
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