Split tolling on the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge will officially go into effect at 2 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 1, ending more than 30 years of federally-mandated one-way tolls on the span. Located at the mouth of upper New York Bay, the bridge not only connects Brooklyn with Staten Island, but it’s also a major link in the interstate highway system, providing the shortest route between the middle Atlantic states and Long Island.
The new tolling system will split the bridge’s current one-way toll in half and begin charging it in both directions. At the present time, drivers of passenger vehicles pay a mail-in toll of $19 to get from Brooklyn to Staten Island, $12.24 with the E-ZPass system or $5.50 if they are Staten Island residents, but nothing to cross into Brooklyn. Tolls for commercial motor vehicles crossing from Brooklyn to Staten Island are based on the number of axles, and currently range from $22.12 for two-axle vehicle drivers using the E-ZPass system to $147.52 for seven-axle vehicle drivers paying by mail. Additional fees are charged for each axle above seven.
Split tolling is expected to net the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) an estimated $10 million in additional annual revenue by eliminating instances in which motorists would only use the span in the uncharged direction. The MTA estimates that pre-pandemic, 7,000 motorists per weekday were taking advantage of the free eastbound route.
Transit planners also hope that the change will alleviate traffic congestion by reducing the number of drivers who cut through Staten Island to get to Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island. Under the new plan, the one-way and round-trip toll rates on the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge will match those at the Hugh L. Carey and Queens-Midtown Tunnels and Bronx-Whitestone, Robert F. Kennedy and Throgs Neck Bridges.
Prior to the change, the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge was the nation’s only bridge where tolling was controlled by 1986 federal legislation aimed at smoothing out stop-and-go traffic at toll booths. However, with current electronic toll collection technology, like E-ZPass, the rule is no longer necessary.
Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge Commercial Vehicle Toll Rates (11/11/2020)*
The new tolling system will split the bridge’s current one-way toll in half and begin charging it in both directions. (*Toll currently collected entering Staten Island only.)
