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Split tolling coming to Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge

Bridges and Tunnels
Updated Nov 9, 2020 6:00 a.m.
Dusky sunlight illuminates a suspension bridge that stretches from a wooded shoreline to a landmass where buildings are visible.

Split tolling will begin at the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge on December 1, 2020. 

Split tolling does not change the effective round-trip toll

Only the location of toll collection is changing:

  1. The toll will no longer be doubled in the westbound direction.
  2. The toll will be collected in each direction.

Changes motorists can expect

Motorists will see that the toll amount collected traveling westbound into Staten Island is half of what was formerly charged to their E-ZPass accounts or billed via Tolls by Mail. If they use the bridge eastbound to Brooklyn, they will also see a toll (half of what was formerly charged) collected for that trip.

Toll rates

Passenger Vehicles

Current One-Way Toll

Toll in Each Direction, Starting December 1

Roundtrip Toll, Starting December 1

E-ZPass (NY CSC)

$12.24

$6.12

$12.24

Tolls by Mail

$19.00

$9.50

$19.00

SI Resident effective, post rebate toll

$5.50

$2.75

$5.50

SI Resident Carpool Plan HOV E-ZPass

$3.40

$1.70

$3.40

The number of trips for the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge Commercial Rebate Program will change

Once split tolling is implemented, the eligibility threshold for the VNB Commercial Rebate Program will increase to 21 trips per month. These trips must be made by trucks and other commercial vehicles using the same NYCSC E-ZPass account to cross the VNB in either direction.

The return to split tolling is in accordance with federal law

The VNB originally collected a toll in both directions from its opening in 1964; however, since 1986, when one-way tolling was implemented, toll collection in the eastbound (to Brooklyn) direction was eliminated and tolls in the westbound (to Staten Island) direction were doubled, in accordance with VNB’s one-way crossing charge collection program. The stated purpose at the time was to reduce queuing and delays at the eastbound toll plaza in Staten Island. The subsequent introduction of E-ZPass — and, more recently, open road Cashless Tolling — eliminated these conditions.

A wide-angle photo shows the entrance to the Verazzanno-Narrows Bridge, with new roadways on the right and the bridge on the left. Gray structures, called gantries, arch over the new roadway. Cameras hang down from the gantries, pointed at the roadway.
Gantries were installed in the Brooklyn-bound direction to enable cashless split tolling at the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge.