The last Parkway toll increase was in 1989. Parkway hikes are commonly seen as more politically difficult in NJ than those on the Turnpike, because the latter serves a greater proportion of inter-state traffic, while the Parkway is seen more as a New Jersey commuter route.

A centerpiece of the Parkway's capital plan is a $150 million twinning of the Driscoll Bridge, where the highway crosses the Raritan River (see MTR #162). The Parkway's plans to meet its capital needs include trimming general operating costs, ending the Parkway's $10 million annual payment to the NJ Transportation Trust Fund and asking another agency - and presumably, all NJ taxpayers - to subsidize the $21.2 million annual tab for policing Parkway motorists. The Trust Fund deal is sealed, but it is unclear what other entity would pay the police costs. Still, these combined savings would only be enough to capitalize about $400 million in capital investment, highway officials told the Record.

The state legislature is interested in another area of capital investment that Parkway officials appear to be trying to avoid. Bills in the State Assembly and Senate direct Parkway officials to revamp toll plazas to permit free-flowing, highway speed E-ZPass toll payments once E-ZPass' rush hour market share reaches two-thirds (MTR #'s 289, 277). Because Parkway toll plazas lie across the highway's main line and completely disrupt vehicle movement, non-stop tolls would relieve more congestion than widening the Driscoll Bridge. The Parkway says it can't afford these improvements. But with the agency's capital program financing up in the air, the state's leaders should strongly consider adding free-flow toll planning into the mix. The Parkway's traffic-halting barrier approach to tolls is going to look more and more archaic as value pricing and non-stop tolls continue their swift pace of implementation elsewhere in New Jersey and the region.