Delaware Memorial Bridge tolls to rise July 1
It's not just Maryland that's raising tolls.
The price of crossing the Delaware Memorial Bridge in a two-axle passenger vehicle is scheduled to rise from $3 to $4 July 1 after the Delaware River and Bay Authority adopted a new toll schedule last week. Tolls at the bridge are collected from southbound drivers only.
The bridge, which crosses the Delaware River between the Wilmington area and southern New Jersey on Interstate 95, is part of the most heavily traveled route between the Baltimore area and New York. It is the first toll increase at the facility since 2000.
The governors of New Jersey and Delaware could still veto the increases, but such a move could have negative consequences for the authority's bond rating. Those bonds were already downgraded by Standard & Poor's in March.
The Delaware bridge toll increase comes as the Maryland Transportation Authority is weighing a proposal by its staff to raise tolls at its facilities this year and again in 2013. Among the increases being proposed in Maryland is an increase in the $2.50 toll on the Bay Bridge to $5 this October and to $8 in 2013. The Bay Bridge is about a 5-mile-long bridge, while the Delaware bridge crosses a river at a point where it is less than a mile wide. Both collect tolls in only one direction.
Officials of the Delaware River authority said the toll increase was necessary to make infrastructure improvements to keep up with the effects of age and heavy use of the 60-year-old bridge. The authority said that without the increase, it would not be able to maintain the required ratio of revenue to debt to avoid higher interest rates.
Comments
With all these tolls getting jacked up, let's see new crafty toll avoidance routes.
COMMENT: It's not an issue heading north, because tolls are collected in the southbound lanes only. However, whether there iis a crafty alternative depends on one's starting point and destination. A route from northern New Jersey on a wide arc through Pennsylvania might make sense for those heading to Baltimore because you avoid many tolls and much posiible congestion. But if you're starting from a point south of Trenton, N.J., there is no good non-toll alternative to the Delaware Memorial Bridge. Any route through Pennsylvania on Interstate 95 or U.S. 1 could cost so much time in delay and extra gas that the toll savings wouldn't be worth it. Sometimes the craftiest thing to do is just pay up.
Posted by: Anonymous | May 25, 2011 9:41 AM
I pull a double axle travel trailer. The thieves at Del Mem Br hit me up for $16 southbound. Let's see: $3 for two axles, ummmmmmm how the heck do we get $16 for four axles?
Coming back home from up in New England, they just made it worth my while to travel I-287 in NJ to US-202 then US-206 S near Somerset NJ, then through picturesque Princeton, on to I-295/95 south towards Philly. Stay on I-95 until Exit 4 and take DEL-896 S to US-301 and across the Bay Bridge. I have not traveled on I-95 Maryland/Delaware tolls in over ten years because of the usery on that route.
That particular southbound route adds 80 low-stress driving miles to the GPS preferred routes, but eliminates all but one toll on the NY Thruway. No Garden State Parkway madness, no NJ Pike, and especially, no Del Mem Br.
Posted by: J. Williams | May 26, 2011 6:04 PM
I am puzzled by the J. Williams comment. I 95 south through NJ IS the NJ Pike and it leads to the Del Mem Br. I often take 301 via any of several connecting routes, but do not know of a way to escape the Del Mem Br. How is this done, J. Williams?
Posted by: R | July 8, 2011 11:22 PM