# It costs $15 to cross the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York? Do any higher US tolls exist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 24, 2013, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-costs-15-to-cross-the-verrazano-narrows-bridge-in-new-york-do-any-higher-us-tolls-exist/667030 "2013-08-24T03:50:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-costs-15-to-cross-the-verrazano-narrows-bridge-in-new-york-do-any-higher-us-tolls-exist/667030/21 "2013-08-27T03:24:05Z")
Isn’t the Chunnel like $250 pounds? ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-costs-15-to-cross-the-verrazano-narrows-bridge-in-new-york-do-any-higher-us-tolls-exist/667030/22 "2013-08-27T08:50:28Z")
> [@Karen\_Lingel](#): > > I know you asked about the US, but it cost me $42 to cross the bridge from PEI to New Brunswick 6 years ago; can’t recall the name. Constitution Bridge? It’s about 9 miles long. “Constitution Bridge” is correct. I’ve been across it twice; most recently in the early 2000s. The toll then was about $40. ---
**Author:** ![Future\_Londonite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9dc877/32.png) [@Future\_Londonite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Future_Londonite)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-costs-15-to-cross-the-verrazano-narrows-bridge-in-new-york-do-any-higher-us-tolls-exist/667030/23 "2013-08-27T09:52:36Z")
> [@Lukeinva](#): > > Isn’t the Chunnel like $250 pounds? To be fair - you can’t drive the ‘Chunnel’. You pay a fare to drive your car onto a train which takes you to the other side. As with most traintravel, the earlier you book the cheaper it is ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-costs-15-to-cross-the-verrazano-narrows-bridge-in-new-york-do-any-higher-us-tolls-exist/667030/24 "2013-08-27T12:06:15Z")
The Panama Canal charges tolls based upon ship tonnage. It is about $5000 for a fair sized yacht. Richard Halliburton (swam the canal in 1928) was charged $1.85. ---
**Author:** ![Anonymous\_Coward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/94ad74/32.png) [@Anonymous\_Coward](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anonymous_Coward)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-costs-15-to-cross-the-verrazano-narrows-bridge-in-new-york-do-any-higher-us-tolls-exist/667030/25 "2013-08-27T12:33:09Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > “Constitution Bridge” is correct. I’ve been across it twice; most recently in the early 2000s. The toll then was about $40. As Hari mentioned earlier it’s the Confederation Bridge and the current toll is $44.50. Cheaper than the ferry though. That’s $67.50. Both the ferry and the bridge only charge to leave the Island. There’s no toll to get onto the Island. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-costs-15-to-cross-the-verrazano-narrows-bridge-in-new-york-do-any-higher-us-tolls-exist/667030/26 "2013-08-27T15:10:28Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > Does the Mt. Washington Auto Road count? It is $26.00 for a car and driver, with an additional $8.00 per passenger. The toll is only charged on the way up. Yeah, but at least you get a souvenir auto-tour narration CD out of it. That has to be worth at least…a dollar? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-costs-15-to-cross-the-verrazano-narrows-bridge-in-new-york-do-any-higher-us-tolls-exist/667030/27 "2013-08-27T19:25:47Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > Yeah, but at least you get a souvenir auto-tour narration CD out of it. That has to be worth at least…a dollar? 😛 That was the last CD I ever played in my old car. I think it was still in the player when I sold it, four or five years later. I hope the purchasers of the car appreciated the deal they got. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-costs-15-to-cross-the-verrazano-narrows-bridge-in-new-york-do-any-higher-us-tolls-exist/667030/28 "2013-08-27T19:39:54Z")
I don’t know what an actual traffic engineer would say, but I’ve always thought it a huge failure of imagination that we put toll booths on bridges, which are already bottlenecks. I grew up on Long Island and had a job involving a lot of travel over the various bridges. It’s a big part of why I moved away. Apart from the cost. It’s a quality of life issue. I realize this infrastructure needs to be paid for, but why can’t it be a tax? \* Why do we need to essentially brung the roads to a standstill in order to fund them? How much do we lose in productivity and idling gas each year? When I went to grad school in the midwest there was a bridge spanning the Mississippi. I asked someone what it cost to go over the bridge and she looked at me like I had two heads. “Toll?! Why would we put a toll on a bridge?”, she asked incredulously. I wonder if that’s still the case 15 years later. - Everyone benefits from the roads. It should be paid for through taxes, not just tolls by users. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-costs-15-to-cross-the-verrazano-narrows-bridge-in-new-york-do-any-higher-us-tolls-exist/667030/29 "2013-08-27T19:51:13Z")
> [@Llama\_Llogophile](#): > > Apart from the cost. It’s a quality of life issue. I realize this infrastructure needs to be paid for, but why can’t it be a tax? \* Why do we need to essentially brung the roads to a standstill in order to fund them? How much do we lose in productivity and idling gas each year? Tolls focus the cost impact onto those who make the most use of the infrastructure. For example, people from the Chicago area pay the majority of the tolls for the Illinois Tollway System but they’re also the people who benefit from it most, as opposed to someone from downstate Peoria or Effingham. Despite living in the region, I personally only use the tollways a handful of times per year, far less than people using them for daily commutes. I assume general taxes do provide for part of the upkeep as well. I’ve also heard suggestions such as eliminating the tolls but increasing fuel taxes in counties serviced by the tollways. I don’t think that’s a great solution for various reasons but it’s an idea. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-costs-15-to-cross-the-verrazano-narrows-bridge-in-new-york-do-any-higher-us-tolls-exist/667030/30 "2013-08-27T20:07:12Z")
> [@astro](#): > > When I read this new item[re battling politicians](http://politicker.com/2013/08/john-catsimatidis-hits-joe-lhota-with-attack-ads/)I assumed this was some crazy scheme that never got implemented then I [wiki’d the bridge](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verrazano-Narrows_Bridge) and the toll is indeed $ 15.00 per car. > > I’m stunned that a high volume bridge toll would be this high. Are there any higher in the US? > > > [@](#): > > > > In 2008, about 190,000 vehicles used the bridge per day on average.[2] > > > > As of March 3, 2013, the one-way toll (paid westbound into Staten Island only) in cash is $15.00 per car or $6.00 per motorcycle. E‑ZPass users with transponders issued by the New York E‑ZPass Customer Service Center pay $10.66 per car or $4.64 per motorcycle; a five-axle truck pays $80, or $52.52 with NY E-ZPass. Holders of transponders issued elsewhere get no discount.[17] I was initially stunned as well, but I can see why in a city of eight million people compacted into a few islands plus some bits of neighboring mainland somebody apparently wants to discourage driving. But it can’t be great for Staten Islanders, though, as they presumably drive more than other New Yorkers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-costs-15-to-cross-the-verrazano-narrows-bridge-in-new-york-do-any-higher-us-tolls-exist/667030.md?page=1)