#MTA bringing two-way tolls back to Verrazzano Bridge in December

Starting next month, the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge will be tolled in both directions for the first time in 35 years, the MTA said Monday.

Beginning Dec. 1, most Verrazzano drivers who use E-ZPass will pay $6.12 in both the Staten Island and Brooklyn directions, officials said. All other drivers will pay $9.50.

Staten Island residents will only be charged just $2.75 to cross the bridge in either direction, however.

The current Staten Island-bound toll is currently $12.24 with E-ZPass and $19 for everyone else.

Brooklyn-bound drivers had been exempt thanks to 1986 federal legislation that made the span the only one in the country with mandatory one-directional tolls.

The highest-in-the-nation toll encouraged some 7,000 daily drivers to opt for a toll-free route through Manhattan, clogging up the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and Manhattan’s Canal Street.

President Trump and Congress repealed the statute in 2019 with the support of Congressman Max Rose (D-Staten Island) and other New York City officials.

“The restoration of split tolling will end a 30-year loophole in New York City that will help alleviate congestion on Staten Island while improving the environment,” MTA Chairman Pat Foye said in a statement.