Bye to cash bridge tolls
Starting Sunday, GW will switch to electronic system
Attention drivers at the George Washington Bridge: Your cash is no good here.
Starting Sunday, drivers looking to cross the Hudson River from New Jersey into New York will go through an electronic tolling system.
Drivers without EZPass who would otherwise be paying cash will have their license plates photographed by overhead cameras and bills sent to them by mail.
The move from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey comes as a way to help ease congestion at the bridge, the busiest of the three Hudson River crossings that the agency oversees.
“Many advocates have been calling for this for a long time and it’s a welcome move,” said Tom Wright, president of the Regional Plan Association.
With the new system, the toll booths will be taken out, removing a link to a memorable chapter in New Jersey’s political history known as “Bridgegate.”
In 2013, traffic in Fort Lee, New Jersey, was snarled for several days when a group of Republican political operatives had some of the access lanes leading into the toll booths blocked in retaliation for a Democratic mayor not endorsing then- Gov. Chris Christie for re-election.
Christie was not charged, but two people were convicted on federal charges. Those convictions were later overturned by the Supreme Court.
The George Washington Bridge is a crossing point not only to get into New York City, but also for drivers using Interstate 95. The Port Authority said more than 49 million vehicles crossed eastbound over it last year. It is the most-used Hudson River crossing by trucks.
Cashless tolling has been in use at the Holland Tunnel since December 2020, and is expected to start at the Lincoln Tunnel later this year.
Wright said using an electronic system for tolls “serves more motorists faster and more efficiently.” But, he cautioned, that did not mean there would be no more congestion as vehicles converge to get across the span.
“It’s not like a magic wand,” he said.