Trenton, New Jersey. As gas taxes and highway tolls increase, New Jersey commuters will face higher expenses beginning in 2025, making daily travels around the state more costly.
The state’s gas tax was raised by 2.6 cents per gallon, according to the New Jersey Department of the Treasury. This raises the total tax to 44.9 cents for gasoline and 51.9 cents for diesel. This increase is a component of a 2024 statute that requires the state’s Highway Fuel Cap to be gradually adjusted between Fiscal Years 2025 and 2029. The Transportation Trust Fund (TTF), which provides funding for rail, bridge, and road infrastructure projects throughout the state, will benefit from the higher revenue.
Tolls on the Garden State Parkway, Atlantic City Expressway, and New Jersey Turnpike have gone up by 3% in parallel with the rise in the gas tax, costing many drivers an additional 16 cents each journey on average. Due to continuous efforts to maintain infrastructure improvements, this is the fourth toll increase on major state routes since 2020.
Drivers are anticipated to be impacted by the concurrent hikes in gas taxes and tolls, especially commuters who frequently drive on state highways or into neighboring states. Residents of New Jersey, which already has among of the highest gas taxes in the country, have had mixed opinions. While some are demanding more responsibility in the management of transportation revenues, others have voiced their unhappiness with the growing prices and questioned if the money is being used effectively.
The changes follow a nationwide trend in which states are depending more on local taxes and levies to fund their expanding infrastructure demands as federal funding wanes. Despite the short-term financial burden on drivers, the administration of Governor Phil Murphy has justified the tax and toll hikes as essential to preserving and updating the state’s transportation system.
Now that the toll and gas tax increases are in place, locals are using social media to express their complaints. While others demanded better road repair and transparency in TTF expenditures, one user on X (previously Twitter) said, “Paying more at the pump and for tolls, yet potholes are still everywhere.”
The viability of using gasoline taxes and toll increases to finance infrastructure projects is still up for debate as drivers deal with the increased expenses. For the time being, drivers in New Jersey will have to adjust to the growing costs of maintaining the state’s transportation infrastructure.
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