there's an eye popping new budget out this week from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey the bstate transportation agency is proposing to hike its annual budget by a billion dollars with plans to go full steam ahead on new projects putting spending at pre pandemic levels and a senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan reports it means drivers will be opening their wallets to help cover the costs the Port Authorities proposed $9.3 billion spending plan includes planes air TR and Automobiles plus developing a brand new Midtown bus terminal to help pay for it all the bate agency's raising tolls another 25 cents to take the airra and an extra 63 cents at Bridge and tunnel Crossings where Peak tolls already cost how much it's 1575 Peak yeah so yeah so that's a lot so you're going over $16 and Transit Advocate Felicia Parks Rogers warns that doesn't include congestion pricing the by state agency tied its tolls to the Consumer Price Index which rose 3.7% over the past year or so nudging tolls higher Parks Rogers advises get on New Jersey Transit get on path it's cheaper let's invest in mass transit so that we don't have to pay those tolls in fact NJ trans its bus riders ships back to 90 to 95% of pre-co levels notes Regional plan Zoe Baldwin bus is um the majority of New Jersey transits traffic into Manhattan uh for daily commuter ridership we are really excited to see the bus terminal be kind of at the top of the Port Authorities priority lists um because it's a really needed Improvement Baldwin says a new bus terminal should enhance customer experience with shops and green spaces but the current facility only frustrates Riders on a daily basis they vent on X Francis posted gate 203's pack down the escalator waiting on the 855 Alana asked why is the ramp into Port Authority taking longer than the drive into the city the design of the terminal itself was not meant to handle the amount of traffic that we have going through there either pedestrian traffic the people going to the buses or the buses themselves the 2024 Port Authority budgets a billion dollars more than last year's it devotes 3.9 billion to operating expenses 1.8 billion to Debt Service and 3.6 billion to capital projects those include developing an optimal design for a new Midtown bus terminal replacing path's payment process with a faster tap and go system updating all three regional airports and revamping the air Trin Port Authorities also spending 220 million on climate resist resiliency and flood mitigation it's in everybody's interest in this time of extreme climate change and extreme congestion to reduce car usage and electric vehicles are are not enough that's not that's not the full answer the agency is also mindful of growing security threats it'll spend almost a billion dollars on ramping up safety and cyber security folks can comment on the Port Authorities website before the board votes December 14th I'm Brenda Flanagan NJ Spotlight News [Music]