Free Republic

A New Jersey man has filed a federal lawsuit in New York over the Port Authority's toll increase. Yoel Weisshaus of New Milford claims the increase is an abuse of power and discriminates against him because he is poor. Cash tolls on the George Washington Bridge, Holland Tunnel, Lincoln Tunnel, Goethals Bridge, Bayonne Bridge and Outerbridge Crossing went up from $8 to $12 on Sunday. Weisshaus claims the tolls are targeted to restrict minimum-wage earners and will be used to complete the World Trade Center project instead of improving bridges and tunnels. The Record newspaper reports the unemployed Bergen Community...

A truck driver — in a burst of James Bond-like ingenuity — rigged his license plate to evade cameras at the George Washington Bridge allowing him to avoid $1,200 in tolls, authorities said today. Allan Flores, 50, of Jersey City, was arrested and charged with theft of services and deceptive business practice by the Port Authority Police, authorities said.“Our commercial vehicle inspections unit, despite what appears to be a clever method of avoiding tolls, has done an excellent job staying one step ahead,” agency spokesman Pasquale DiFulco said. “And toll violators would be well advised to know that we are...

Steve Lonegan, the former mayor of Bogota and an outspoken critic of tax and immigration policies, was arrested Saturday afternoon outside a South Jersey high school while protesting Governor Corzine's toll-hike plan. Lonegan said in a telephone interview that he was handcuffed while handing out pamphlets a few minutes before the 2 p.m. start of Corzine's town meeting in Cape May County. Corzine is holding the public events in each of the state's 21 counties to try to sell his financial proposal. Middle Township police declined to comment on the incident. But Lonegan, a Republican who ran in his party's...

Last weekend I was vacation ing in the Poconos and I got talking to some of the locals. They were pretty steamed. It seems that Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell is pushing a scheme to im pose tolls on the Pennsylvania sec tion of Interstate 80. I'm pretty steamed, too. If Pennsylvanians want to charge tolls on the roads they built with their own money, such as the Pennsylvania Turnpike, that's none of my business. But I-80 was built with my tax dollars under a program begun by the esteemed Republican president Dwight Eisenhower. Now this Democrat wants to use the...

Governor Jon Corzine continues to be dogged by questions about his still secret plans to monetize State assets, namely the New Jersey Turnpike and he continues to refuse to release any details. A recent poll shows Garden State voters oppose the idea and even some of Corzine's fellow Democrats are critical of the undisclosed scheme. "I don't have plans until I have a plan," says Corzine. He adds, "It makes no sense to talk about something that we don't know the underlying factors on……people in my own party (Democratic) and the other party, they all want to talk about something...

Gov. Richard J. Codey is working on a plan to bolster the state's Transportation Trust Fund with a temporary increase in the gasoline tax and additional money generated by privatizing the New Jersey Turnpike or Garden State Parkway, according to a published report. The Record of Bergen County, citing an unnamed administration source, reported in Thursday's editions that the plan calls for a small gas tax increase to be pushed through shortly after the Nov. 8 election. The increase would be rescinded or phased out after the lease deal is signed and begins to generate cash. The Transportation Trust Fund...

Weekend tolls higher than $5 considered By Mark Prado Golden Gate Bridge officials will seek funding to study charging higher tolls when the span is most congested: on weekends. An increase in the current $3 toll - $4 for FasTrak users, $5 for those who use cash - is already set for Sept. 1 to help offset a projected $441 million deficit over the next five years. Now the district will look at "congestion pricing," essentially charging more than $5 for motorists who cross at the busiest times. The idea is people would avoid the bridge when tolls are...

<p>State transportation officials said they need to start charging drivers who use Interstate 95, one of the most heavily traveled interstates on the East Coast.</p> <p>Officials want to install six toll plazas along the interstate in North Carolina. Officials propose to charge $3 at each plaza, which means it could cost $18 to travel in North Carolina on I-95 from the Virginia border to South Carolina.</p>

Lots of news to report! First, Washington, DC based nomoretolls.org (Kevin McKeown) has filed a case in lower federal courts on the basis that toll booths violate the clean air act while operators of toll booths violate the civil rights of toll payers by requiring an unnecessary increase in the period of time a toxic emitting vehicle is needlessly operated resulting in increased pollution. The case had now reached the U.S.Supreme Court where it has been assigned Docket No. 01-1421!. Citizens Against Tolls plans to file an Amicus Curiae (Friend of Court) brief in support of this case. The brief...