At a press conference this week, New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg sketched out a three-point plan for tolls on New Jersey roads - complete the installation of E-ZPass by January 1, ensure all toll booths are open at rush hour and allow free passage through toll plazas when the backup becomes unbearable.

The third leg of Lautenberg's proposal fails to acknowledge two existing initiatives to smooth traffic flow on the toll roads. The first, a bill (A35) sponsored by DeCroce, would ensure that EZ-Pass would be installed in a "non-stop" arrangement on the Parkway so that drivers wouldn't need to slow down to have their tolls reads electronically. The NJ Turnpike already plans to install non-stop EZ-Pass at Exit 6.

The second initiative, announced by Turnpike Authority executive director Edward Gross earlier this year, is to implement congestion relief pricing on the Turnpike the next time tolls are raised. Under such a scheme, tolls would be higher at peak hours than off-peak as an incentive to drive when the roads are less jammed.

Lautenberg's idea stands congestion relief pricing on its head. By making it free, it provides an added draw to drive at the most jammed time of the day. Rather than fostering alternatives to space-hogging single occupancy cars, it encourages their use when space is scarcest. Non-stop tolling and congestion relief pricing are sensible alternatives. He was joined at the press conference by Assembly Transportation Committee chairman Alex DeCroce and State Senate Minority Leader Richard Codey.