The NJ State Assembly bill that would force the evolution of electronic toll collection to its next logical step was approved by the Assembly Transportation Committee yesterday. The "Parkway Barrier Toll Removal Bill," authored by Assembly Transportation Chair Alex DeCroce and State Senator Robert Martin would direct the Garden State Parkway to configure toll plazas to read E-ZPass tags at full highway speeds once E-Z Pass customers reach two-thirds of toll-paying vehicles. The bill would require cash-payers to pay 15 cents more than drivers using E-Z Pass.

E-ZPass toll collection finally attained a toe-hold in north Jersey this week, debuting at the Garden State Parkway's Hillsdale plaza and Paramus ramps. More installations will come on line over the next six months.

Parkway officials herald the E-Z Pass system as a solution to congestion on the Parkway, where toll-booths lie across the highway main-line. Though touted as a delay-buster, the retro-fit of E-ZPass into the physical structure of old-style toll booths still requires drivers to slow to 5 mph, limiting electronic toll collection's potential.

The Barrier Toll Removal Bill (A35), passed the Committee in a five-to-three partisan vote. Democrats criticized the bill's institution of higher tolls for cash-paying customers, echoing their recent gripes over the NJ Turnpike's proposal to introduce toll rates that vary between cash and E-ZPass payment and between peak and off-peak periods. In both cases, the Democrats are picking poor issues for criticizing the Whitman Administration and Republicans in the legislature. Both the Turnpike proposal and the high-speed toll bill are clearly the wave of the future and, for once, represent toll policies that offer tangible benefits to the motoring public.

"The bill is an opportunity to bring a forty-five year old highway into the modern world," Transportation Committee Chair Alex DeCroce told the Campaign.

Parkway officials complained about the cost of changing toll booth infrastructure and called for an E-ZPass threshold higher than 2/3, but did not say high-speed toll collection was infeasible.

The Tri-State Campaign testified in favor of the bill. The Campaign worked with the legislature to craft the bill after a movement to raze Parkway toll booths altogether threatened to break out early in the summer. The Senate Transportation Committee will consider the companion bill, S2062, on Monday, December 6^th. While the bills may have difficulty becoming law this year, with just one month left in this legislative session, DeCroce vowed both bills would be promptly revived next year if necessary.