Two-Way, Lower Priced Tolls on Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge begin Tuesday, Dec. 1

By Yehudit Garmaise

   Not only will the Verrazzano Bridge end its 34-year practice of charging tolls only one way, starting on Tuesday, those tolls cost substantially less, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA).

  For driving leaving Brooklyn, the new rate the cross the Verrazzano Bridge will be $6.12 for E-ZPass customers and $9.50 for drivers who do not have the pass.

   Now that the tolls match those of the city’s other tunnels and bridges, transit planners hope to see less traffic and greater air quality, as fewer cars and trucks take detours through Staten Island to cross the Verrazzano Bridge for free.

   In fact, using traffic numbers from the before the COVID pandemic, the MTA estimates that the new two-way toll will result is 7,000 fewer drivers per day crossing the Verrazzano Bridge heading toward Brooklyn.

   “The restoration of split-tolling will greatly improve traffic and [decrease] congestion in Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan, while also capturing much needed new funding for the MTA from out-of-state trucks, which no longer will avoid a toll entering New York City via Staten Island or dodge tolls on the Hudson River Bridge and tunnel crossings,” said U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler, who had pushed for the legislation to reverse split tolling along with representatives Max Rose (D–Bay Ridge) and Nydia Velázquez (D-Sunset Park).

   Although when it opened in 1964, the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge originally collected tolls from cars that were going both ways, in 1986, the bridge started to collect tolls only for cars that were headed westbound and eliminated the tolls for cars going eastbound.

   Since then, traffic going eastbound has been greatly increased, with cars and trucks sometimes going out of their way to traverse the free stretch of the bridge.

   In 1986, Congress passed one-way tolling on the Verrazzano-Narrows to speed up traffic that was “stop-and-go” at the coin toll plazas, which, have since been replaced with E-Z Passes and Cashless Tolling, which both eliminated the need for one-way tolling.