Entering NYC from NJ

[hydlide]

I'm a long time veteran of avoiding tolls going into NYC coming from New England, but what about from New Jersey?  I always end up going through the Holland Tunnel or the George Washington Bridge.  Is there another way in?  Google gives me some crazy directions that send me up through Yonkers - adding 2 1/2 hours to the trip.  What about coming in from the west on 280 and then going down Route 1/9 to 278?  Is there a toll that way, too?

[Webmaster]

Hello, and welcome to the Shunpikers Forum!

The short answer, unfortunately, is that there is no reasonable way to get from New Jersey to New York City without paying a toll. At least, there's none that I know of. To enter Manhattan from New Jersey, you have to cross the Hudson River, and all of the crossings require a toll eastbound.

The route you propose through Staten Island also requires an $8.00 toll, as all three crossings from New Jersey to Staten Island are toll bridges. I-278 crosses Arthur Kill via the Goethals Bridge. The more southern route via NY/NJ 440 crosses Arthur Kill via the Outerbridge Crossing. Crossing Kill Van Kull via NY/NJ 440 will take you over the Bayonne Bridge (assuming it hasn't fallen down, which it's in imminent danger of doing despite the exorbitant tolls).

Once you get to Staten Island (which is a borough of New York City, incidentally), you can get to Manhattan without paying a toll. You would have to take the Staten Island Expressway (I-278) to the Verrazano Bridge and cross into Brooklyn. There's no toll Brooklyn-bound. From there, you'd continue on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (I-278) and cross the East River into Manhattan via the Brooklyn, Manhattan, or Williamsburgh bridges (all free as of this morning, although there's an ongoing effort to impose tolls). However, the Staten Island Expressway and the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway are notorious for their epic traffic jams, which can easily tie you up for hours on end.

The Northern route would save you some toll money as the Hudson River crossing tolls get cheaper the farther north you go. But you would wind up spending much more money on fuel, aside from adding hours of aggravation to your trip.

You could, for example, cross the NY/NJ state line from Bergen County, NJ into Rockland County, NY. There are no rivers to cross between the two; often, the state line runs right smack through the middle of residential neighborhoods. You could then take the Tappan Zee Bridge (which also is in imminent danger of falling down) over the Hudson from Rockland County to Westchester County in New York. This would "save" you $3.00, as the toll on the Tappan Zee is $5.00. But then you'd then have to weave your way from Westchester County, through the Bronx, and into Manhattan -- not something you want to do unless you're intimately familiar with the local streets and roads and pack a lunch (the traffic can be horrific).

If you really hate tolls, you could even follow the Hudson north along the Western shore and cross eastward over the Bear Mountain Bridge ($1.00), and then weave your way South. But again, it would add hours to your trip, and the fuel costs would easily outweigh any toll savings.

So in short, no, there's no reasonable way to avoid the tolls from New Jersey into Manhattan -- at least that I know of, and I've lived in these parts most of my life. In fact, if there's a Holy Grail of shunpiking, I'd say that the NJ / NYC crossing would be it.

Again, welcome to the Forum! Sorry I couldn't be of more help with this route.

Best,

Richard