UPDATE: NJ Turnpike officials have canceled a public hearing scheduled to be held at Rampo College on March 19. The other two hearings on March 18 in Woodbridge and at Camden County College will be live streamed. Details about how to watch will be posted on the Turnpike Authority website. The public comment period will be extended to April 3.

New Jersey Turnpike Authority officials revealed more details about a proposed toll increase that will hit drivers and promised more information would be released soon.

Drivers using the New Jersey Turnpike face the biggest bite -- a 36% increase toll increase -- while Garden State Parkway drivers would see a 27% hike, said Tom Feeney, a Turnpike Authority spokesman. The authority also runs the Parkway.

The increase will be applied equally to the toll rates for cash and E-ZPass, peak and off-peak rates and for trucks and cars, he said. It could increase the price of a passenger car trip on the Turnpike by an average of $1.25 and Parkway tolls by 30 cents.

Bus discounts will be changed to a blanket 40% reduction, instead of charging different rates based on the type of bus.

“Every rate will increase by the same percentages,” Feeney said. “The proposed toll tables will be published before (upcoming) public hearings.”

What are drivers getting? The hike, which is estimated to raise more than $500 million, will support a new capital plan that extends to 2029. In addition to 53 projects that widen various sections of the Parkway and Turnpike, both roads will get cashless toll collection, and full time use of exit 19W from the Turnpike western spur that takes drivers directly to the Meadowlands sports complex that had been only open on event days.

“With additional traffic going to the complex because of the activities at American Dream, it makes sense to keep the interchange open all the time,” Feeney said. Drivers with E-ZPass will have the option of going directly into the complex from the southbound Western Spur and paying the toll at 19W.

Up to now, those drivers would have exited the Turnpike at Exit 16W, paid a toll there and gotten on Route 3 to access the Meadowlands sports complex. It’s a different way to get to the same place while paying the same toll they would have paid if they went the old way, Feeney said.

No official date for a vote on the proposal has been set by the Turnpike Authority’s board, but it could happen as early as its April 28 meeting at its headquarters in Woodbridge, so long as upcoming public hearings are held as scheduled, Feeny said.

Comments will be taken at three public hearings next week, which, as of Thursday night, were still on, despite numerous cancellations of other events throughout the state due to the coronavirus.

The first two will be held on Wednesday, March 18. One at NJ Turnpike Headquarters, 1 Turnpike Plaza, which is off Mutton Hollow Road and near Route 9 south in Woodbridge, will run from 1 to 3 p.m. And another from 6 to 8 p.m. at Camden County College Dennis Flyer Memorial theater, Lincoln Hall Jefferson Drive, Sicklerville. The last hearing is scheduled for 7 to 9 p.m. on March 19 at Ramapo College trustee pavilion conference room, 505 Ramapo Valley Road in Mahwah.

Comments also can be mailed to the Turnpike Authority Executive Director, 1 Turnpike Plaza, Woodbridge NJ 07095 or emailed to njtapubliccomments@njta.com by March 27.

Turnpike officials have been under fire for a slow reveal of the toll increase details when the agency’s board of commissioners voted in February to set the public hearings, but did not say how much tolls would increase until last weekend’s public notice.

That led the National Motorists Association to call for a 45-day delay in the public hearings to give drivers enough time to read the proposals and comment on them, and to put off the board of commissioners’ vote.

It’s not clear exactly when the toll hikes would go into effect.

The last toll increase was a 53% hike on January 1, 2012, which was the final part of a multi-phase toll increase package approved in 2008. That toll increase financed the authority’s $7 billion capital plan that paid for widening parts of the Turnpike and Parkway.

Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @commutinglarry. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips.

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