AAA North Jersey, New York File Lawsuit Over Port Authority Toll Hikes

AAA North Jersey joined AAA New York in filing a Federal lawsuit in Manhattan Tuesday seeking to stop the Port Authority from collecting higher tolls on the George Washington Bridge and other Hudson River crossings, AAA North Jersey announced.

AAA contends in the complaint that the Port Authority’s increased rates “contravene Federal law which requires interstate tolls to be set at ‘just and reasonable’ levels,” according to officials with the club.

“In a 1989 court decision involving that statue, the United States Second Circuit Court of Appeals held that the use of toll revenue must be functionally related to transportation,” said AAA New York’s vice president and counsel Marta Genovese in a statement.

The lawsuit further alleges that the “predominant reason” for the “new and unprecedented toll increase is to generate billions of dollars to subsidize projects totally unrelated to transportation primarily by funding real estate redevelopment costs at the World Trade Center,” according to AAA North Jersey. 

“The Authority is attempting to burden commuters and travelers with public expenditures that are in no way related to transportation,” Genovese said.

The increased tolls went into effect Sept. 18; AAA North Jersey notes that they will increase every year until 2015, when the cash rate tops out at $15 and the E-ZPass rate reaches $12.50 per trip.

The lawsuit follows a Sept. 15 AAA request that U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood investigate the Port Authority for violating the Federal Bridge Act, AAA officials said.