The 2008 State Budget for Delaware passed this Summer and in it are changes that will affect many drivers through Delaware. At stake in the $3.28-billion budget are increases in tolls on both Interstate 95 at the Delaware state line and the SR 1 Turnpike between Dover and Christiana. Tolls for Interstate 95 will increase from $3.00 per passenger vehicle to $4.00. Each of the SR 1 Turnpike plaza tolls will double from $1 per passenger vehicle to $2 on weekends but remain the same on weekdays. Late-night EZ Pass discounts for Interstate 95 will be eliminated. Frequent commuter EZ Pass discounts for the SR 1 Turnpike however will remain. These announcements were made official with signing of the budget and toll increases take effect October 1.

In a related toll increase, the Delaware River & Bay Authority (DRBA) voted July 17, 2007 to increase the commercial vehicle toll on the Delaware Memorial Bridge from $3.00 to $4.00 per axle starting in January 2008. A second toll increase is expected in 2010 to pay for $300 million in future projects such as redecking the bridges. Justification of the initial tolls increases will add $11 million per year to the DRBA project. Items on their project list include $21.5 million to widen the Interstate 295 approach to the bridge including adding lanes at the U.S. 13 & 40 interchange at Farnhurst, replacing the Norfolk Southern railroad bridge, and road work on the roadway to the Cape May Lewes Ferry (also operated by the DRBA).

Interstate 295 only carries four overall lanes through the Farnhurst interchange with U.S. 13 & 40. Toll increases will pay for expansion of the freeway to six overall lanes at the directional interchange. Photo taken May 19, 2007.

What is not proposed for Delaware is the building of high-speed EZ-Pass only express or commuter lanes for Interstate 95. Robert Poole, director of transportation studies for the nonprofit Reason Foundation in California, states that Interstate 95 is not feasible for high-speed toll lanes because it has too many exits. Yet Interstate 394 in Minneapolis, a freeway shorter than the Delaware Turnpike, with four freeway to freeway interchanges, six full access interchanges, and two half interchanges, supports them efficiently. EZ Pass express lanes could easily carry through traffic without any destination in Delaware, such as those traveling between Baltimore-Washington and the New Jersey Turnpike via the Delaware Memorial Bridge. Such high-speed lanes could be constructed on an elevated viaduct, similar to Interstate 110 in Los Angeles or the Crosstown Expressway in Tampa…

Delaware Transportation Department spokesman Darrel Cole indicates that the toll increases get DelDOT one step closer to rebuilding the ailing cloverleaf interchange between Delaware 1 and Interstate 95. However changes to that interchange are years away, so his statement will not resonate with drivers until actual work begins. A widening project of Interstate 95 between Delaware 1 & 7 and the split with Interstate 295 however began this year to add one additional travel lane in each direction.

Sources:

  1. “State budget raises taxes, tolls and fees.” The News Journal (Wilmington, DE), June 21, 2007.
  2. “Toll Increase On Delaware Memorial Bridge.” WBOC-TV 16, July 18, 2007.
  3. “Pricey stretch of I-95 about to get pricier.” The News Journal (Wilmington, DE), July 8, 2007.
  4. Froehlig, Adam