By Larry Higgs | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on October 20, 2016 at 5:58 PM, updated October 20, 2016 at 5:59 PM
Tolls on the Port Authority’s bridges and tunnels will not be increased to help fund construction of new Hudson River rail tunnels, officials said Thursday after approving a financing plan for the Gateway Project.
Authority officials will discuss revising the agency’s 10-year capital plan next month to include Gateway, building a new Port Authority Bus Terminal and replacing the aging Newark Airport Monorail, said John Degnan, the board chairman.
Both Foye and Degnan said revising the capital plan won’t include a toll hike. The last toll hike took place last December as part of an increase that was phased-in over five years.
“The two governors said the Port Authority will take the lead for a financing plan,” Degnan said. “We’re not accepting that the Port Authority will pick-up the entire (local share of costs).”
The federal government and both states have agreed to a 50-50 financing plan for Gateway, but New York and New Jersey officials said they would turn to the Port Authority for some of that funding and to create a development corporation to apply for financing.
