Last month, the Port Authority voted to hike tolls by more than 50 percent over the next five years.
No big deal if you don’t leave Manhattan—or don’t drive. But by 2015, it’ll run bridge and tunnelers up to $15 to cross over.
It’s hefty price compared to toll costs in the early 1960s, when this city street map was published.
The Holland Tunnel toll cost 50 cents. The Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel a mere 35 cents.
Drivers in the early 1960s forked over about the same amount of coin to use the Lincoln Tunnel (50 cents) and the Queens Midtown Tunnel (25 cents).
Adjust the numbers for inflation, however, and those tolls shouldn’t be more than $3.70 today.
Tags: bridge and tunnel tolls, Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, Holland Tunnel, Lincoln Tunnel, Manhattan street map 1960s, New York City bridges and tunnels, New York City in 1963, Port Authority, Queens Midtown Tunnel, vintage New York maps
Ephemeral New York 
September 4, 2011 at 1:21 am |
Those 50-cent tolls were charged in both directions. Today, the round-trip toll is collected in the eastbound direction.
September 4, 2011 at 7:48 am |
Are those high tolls ostensibly just to pay for maintenance, or is the city looking at them as a source of revenue for unrelated projects?
–Road to Parnassus
September 6, 2011 at 1:18 am |
look at all those hudson ferries.
September 6, 2011 at 3:53 am |
When I first moved to Hoboken in 1981 the PATH train was 30¢. Now it’s $1.75. That’s over 583%.
September 6, 2011 at 3:58 am |
I think it’s supposed to hit $2.75 soon too. Good thing you’re a subway rider now.
September 10, 2011 at 12:52 pm |
Maybe, instead, the tolls were too cheap in 1960? Externalized costs and all that.
January 31, 2012 at 11:58 am |
The “tollcostmanhattantunnels.jpg” thumbnail it oriented correctly but when one clicks to see the full size image it is upside-down. Can this be corrected?
January 31, 2012 at 4:26 pm |
Oh, sorry about that. I’ll see what I can do.