Cryan Suggests Putting New Tolls on I-78 and I-80

Senate Republican Leader Tom Kean and Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce today said that Republicans are united in opposition to tolls on Interstates 78 and 80.

"It seems that Governor Corzine and the rest of the Trenton Democrats are trying to resurrect the failed Turnpike toll hike plan," Kean stated. "The Democratic leadership in Trenton should stop trying to soak commuters and taxpayers and look harder for cost-saving measures."

"We know the Corzine administration looked at the possibility of new Interstate tolls when it prepared his toll hike plan, and that he has refused to rule it out," said DeCroce, R-Morris and Passaic. "I have to wonder whether Assemblyman Cryan is putting this idea forward at the behest of an administration that has been eying this as a revenue source for months."

As New Jersey Transportation Commissioner Kris Kolluri said, the state must soon raise more than $1 billion to build a commuter rail tunnel into New York City. On Tuesday, Assemblyman Joseph Cryan, a top Democratic leader, suggested imposing tolls on Interstates 78 and 80.

Kean and DeCroce questioned how Cryan could consider such a proposal when the governor hasn't negotiated a fair agreement with New York to finance tunnel construction. New Yorkers won't pay a dime of construction costs because Governor Corzine agreed to pay for it solely with money from New Jersey.

Corzine, who proposed an 800 percent toll increase on the state's existing toll roads, has said the idea of putting new tolls on I-78 and I-80 merits serious consideration.

"New Jersey motorists already pay too much to live in this state and adding new tolls is not the answer to our affordability crisis," DeCroce said. "Only by cutting spending can we put the state back on the right track."

"The taxpayers are not the Democrats' personal piggy bank. Working families should not be punished for six years of ghastly  fiscal management by Trenton politicians." Kean concluded.