Hudson crossings, NJ roadways temporarily turn to electronic tolls (updated)

The New Jersey Turnpike Authority suspended cash collections at all toll locations on the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway as of 10 p.m. on March 24 as a precaution against the spread of COVID-19, the authority announced on its website.

All tolls will be collected electronically.

The authority says that if customers have an E-ZPass tag in their vehicle, the process will not change.  If a customer does not have an E-ZPass tag, the equipment in the lane will capture a photograph of the license plate on the vehicle the customer is driving, and an invoice for the cost of the toll will be mailed to the registered owner.

The customer will be billed at the cash toll rate; no additional administrative fees will be charged.

Cash customers who do not want to be billed can open an E-ZPass account.

This change comes two days after the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey took the same action at the George Washington Bridge and Lincoln and Holland tunnels.

The temporary change issued by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is consistent with emergency orders from both those states, and will stay in effect throughout their duration.

The Port Authority will post temporary signage, begin issuing e-alerts and use social media to inform the region’s drivers of this change.

The change in toll collection only applies to Port Authority toll plazas that continue to collect cash: the George Washington Bridge’s upper and lower level toll plazas, and the toll lanes at the Lincoln and Holland tunnels. There will be no change to the toll operations at the Port Authority’s three Staten Island crossings – the Goethals and Bayonne bridges and Outerbridge Crossing – and the George Washington Bridge’s Palisades Interstate Parkway toll lanes, which have already adopted cashless tolling.

During this period, any discount programs that require in-person administration by toll attendants will be temporarily suspended, such as the carpool discount program.

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 1:04 p.m. EST on March 26, 2020 to include information regarding temporary cashless tolling on the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway.