Cape May County Finally Getting E-ZPass

NORTH WILDWOOD — One of New Jersey's hottest tourism destinations should be less annoying to reach and travel through come summer 2018.

According to Patrick Rosenello, chairman of the Cape May County Bridge Commission, an option for E-ZPass will be installed on all five of the county's toll bridges in the months ahead. Work to do so has already started on the Ocean City-Longport Bridge connecting Atlantic and Cape May counties.

Currently, drivers have to stop anytime they cross a span, and hand over cash or a ticket.

"By next summer, all of them will have E-ZPass," Rosenello told New Jersey 101.5. "The lack of E-ZPass is the number one complaint that we receive from our customers."

According to Rosenello, who is also the mayor of North Wildwood, the commission's bridges experience about 2 million one-way crossings per year.

Four of the five bridges have a moveable span for boat traffic, which adds to the backups during the busy summer season, he said.

E-ZPass should be in place on the Ocean City-Longport bridge by the end of November, Rosenello said. Then crews will move south and all work should be completed "by mid-spring at the latest."

The fare to cross a span will not change, at least initially, Rosenello said. But the commission may look at a fare hike as part of a larger project to renovate, rehabilitate or replace the bridges, most of which are at least 75 years old.

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Contact reporter Dino Flammia at dino.flammia@townsquaremedia.com.