Port Authority OKs Budget; Auto Tolls Will Increase Between NJ, NY

NEW JERSEY — The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has given a green light to a $9.4 billion budget for 2025.

The Port Authority commissioner board voted to approve the agency’s latest budget on Thursday, which includes $4.1 billion in operating expenses, $3.6 billion in capital expenses and $1.7 billion for debt service and deferred expenses.

The total is up slightly from last year’s $9.3 billion spending plan. See Related: Port Authority Approves $1 Billion Budget Hike In NJ, NY

The bi-state agency operates many of the region’s busiest transportation hubs, including the George Washington Bridge, Lincoln Tunnel, Port Authority Bus Terminal, the Port of New York and New Jersey, the PATH rail system and the area’s three major airports: LaGuardia, Newark Liberty and JFK.

The Port Authority’s annual budget includes no tax revenue from either the states of New York or New Jersey or from the City of New York, relying mostly on tolls, fares, user fees, retail stores, consumer services and facility rentals.

The spending blueprint comes with some toll and fare hikes. These would help to pay for the "largest Port Authority capital investment in history," in addition to offsetting massive losses seen during the coronavirus pandemic, officials said.

Watch a video of Thursday’s budget hearing and vote below.

TOLL AND FARE HIKES

Cars, motorcycles and trucks crossing the Port Authority’s bridges and tunnels will see a 25-cent toll hike on Jan. 5, in addition to a separate 43-cent increase that kicks in automatically.

Other toll increases have been approved for drivers without E-ZPass, and E-ZPass users whose transponders aren’t “properly mounted.”

Meanwhile, PATH train riders will see an automatic hike of 25-cents for single-ride fares starting on Jan. 12. The single ride fare was last adjusted in October 2014, more than a decade ago.

On the flip side of the coin, the agency approved a new discount program for PATH riders with qualifying disabilities. Passengers who qualify under this program will pay the same reduced fare rate as a senior citizen, or $1.50 per ride. It will become effective once the new TAPP fare system is fully operational, which is estimated for summer 2025, officials said.

UPCOMING PROJECTS

The proposed budget includes $3.6 billion of capital infrastructure investment, according to the Port Authority.

Here are some of the projects on the list:

• At John F. Kennedy International Airport, major construction progress on the supporting infrastructure for new terminals 1 and 6, as well as the rebuilding of the entire airport roadway network as part of the airport’s transformation into a world-class gateway. 

• The planning and design work needed to move forward on the EWR Vision Plan to transform Newark Liberty into a 21st century international gateway with a new on-airport mass transit system serving all terminals that will replace the existing AirTrain Newark that opened in the 1990s.

• The project to add pedestrian access from underserved Newark and Elizabeth communities to the Newark Airport Rail Link station, expanding mass transit and airport access for people in those communities seeking faster options to employment at the airport or in New York City via NJ TRANSIT rail services or Amtrak.

• The remaining projects in the multi-year $2 billion Restoring the George program to replace or rehabilitate every major component of the 93-year-old George Washington Bridge, the world’s busiest bridge, including all 592 of its suspension wires. Of the program’s 11 projects, four are complete and six are underway, with a final project undergoing preliminary planning.

• The start of early works construction for a new world-class Midtown Bus Terminal, such as the platforms over the Lincoln Tunnel’s Dyer Avenue ramps and the start of work of a new bus staging and storage facility that will serve as the interim main terminal while existing bus terminal is demolished. The bus terminal replacement project will be constructed in phases to allow for the continued operation of the main terminal building and minimal disruptions to service for bus customers.

• Track infrastructure replacement, station rehabilitations, signal and equipment upgrades, and new rail cars through the 2-year $430 million PATH Forward program to improve speeds, service and reliability of the PATH commuter rail.

• The full implementation of PATH’s new tap-and-go fare payment system by the end of 2025, including replacements of existing SmartLink/MetroCard readers with new TAPP readers at all PATH stations and the introduction of a new TAPP card that will enable carryovers of existing SmartLink PATH fare discounts.

• Planning on a new express bus service for LaGuardia Airport, as well as the Port Authority’s share of service and reliability improvements to MTA New York City Transit’s free-to-ride Q70 LaGuardia Link Select Bus Service. 

• Support of campus-wide state-of-good-repair needs at the World Trade Center, and upgrades of existing river water pump station.

• Rebuilding the entire Port Street complex of access roads to Port Newark and the Elizabeth-Port Authority Marine Terminal, which are among the busiest marine facilities within the East Coast’s busiest seaport complex. The current roadway and ramps were built more than 60 years and are being replaced with new roadways designed to modern highway standards and built to accommodate the longer and wider trucks that currently serve the port.

• Rehabilitation of two berths at the seaport for the maintenance of critical port infrastructure needed to ensure the continued operation and competitiveness of the East Coast’s busiest seaport and the nation’s second-busiest port for loaded containers. 

Port Authority chair Kevin O’Toole said the upgrades will give the agency – and the people who depend on it – a big boost.

“We’re investing significant money to keep the pedal to the metal on what has become the most ambitious capital program in our 103-year history, overhauling, modernizing and refreshing this region’s critical infrastructure as we chart a course to keep our region moving into an even stronger future,” O’Toole said.

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