New Year, New Higher Tolls On The Garden State Parkway (And Turnpike)
The increases are tied to inflation… but will the tolls go down when inflation calms down?
New Year, New Toll Hikes for NJ Turnpike, Garden State Parkway. For the third consecutive year, tolls have increased on the Turnpike and the Parkway – and the Atlantic City Expressway. The Toms River tolls on the Garden State Parkway are now One Dollar and One Cent, up from 97 cents for EZPass, up five cents for those paying cash. The average driver on the Turnpike will see a fifteen cent increase in tolls. The increases are tied to, you guessed it, inflation. But, will the tolls go down when inflation calms down? Port Authority controlled crossings see a toll increase on January 8th.
Local news, what’s going to happen with COVID now that the holiday gatherings are finished? So far, official state current infection levels are about where they were on the 24th, which is elevated. 2700 new cases ID’d by PCR test announced by the state yesterday. Another 970 by rapid test.
On January 11th, 2022 a post holiday COVID spike peaked with just over 6000 hospitalizations, in case you’re wondering. Today there’s 1533 people in hospital beds suffering COVID symptoms, though clearly most people don’t end up in the hospital from it.
Some school districts are hoping to head off a post-holiday surge among staff and students. Passaic and Paterson School Districts have reinstated mask mandates for all students, beginning today. New Brunswick School District officials say they’re urging, but not requiring, the more than 96-hundred students and staff to wear masks when they return to school today. They’re also asking all students and staff to self-test for COVID-19 before they return to class today and again next Sunday, January 8th.
