PA Turnpike Nation's Most Expensive Toll Road By Far, Study Says

PENNSYLVANIA — The Pennsylvania Turnpike is by far the nation's most expensive toll road, a new study has concluded. Driving the entire length of the 360-mile turnpike will cost $112, according to Budget Direct.

That's more than four times higher than the next-priciest toll road. Driving the entire 496-mile New York State Thruway costs only $28.05.

Turnpike Commission CEO Mark Compton described the study's findings as "seriously flawed" in a letter to state officials on Monday, the Bucks County Courier Times reported.

"Their so-called 'report' ... failed to recognize basic differences in how toll highways are used, how toll rates are set and how travelers pay," Compton wrote in the letter to General Assemly transportation committees.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike has seen toll increases for 13 years in a row. In 2018, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association filed a lawsuit against the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission challenging what the litigation contended were excessive toll increases. The lawsuit was dismissed in federal court in 2019.

Here are the country's most expensive toll roads if driven by their entire lengths, according to Budget Direct:

• Pennsylvania Turnpike: $112

• New York Thruway: $28.05

• Ohio Turnpike: $20.50

• Texas State Highway 130: $19.23

• New Jersey Turnpike: $18.85

• Bayonne Bridge, New Jersey-New York: $16

• George Washington Bridge, New Jersey-New York: $16

• Goenthals Bridge, New Jersey-New York: $16

• Outerbridge Crossing, New Jersey-New York: $16

• Holland Tunnel, New-Jersey-New York $16

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission last year approved a 6-percent toll increase for all E-ZPass rates system-wide and for PA Turnpike toll-by-plate rates that had been established before the permanent conversion to all-electronic tolling.

“The primary driver of the annual toll-rate increases continues to be our quarterly transit payments to PennDOT and the resulting debt service that comes along with the legislatively mandated funding obligation,” turnpike commission CEO Mark Compton said at the time.

“As a result, the PA Turnpike has delivered almost $7 billion in funding to PennDOT in
the last decade, primarily to support mass-transit operations in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.”