Closed Toll Plaza To Be Removed From New Hope-Lambertville Bridge

The New Hope-Lambertville Toll Bridge plaza. Credit: Google Maps

The New Hope-Lambertville (Route 202) Toll Bridge will remove its toll collection station after moving to cashless, all-electronic tolling, the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission announced this week.

The project involves the removal of the bridge’s former cash-collection toll plaza and the construction of an overhead gantry equipped with E-ZPass readers and cameras to capture license plates of vehicles without E-ZPass.

The commission said the New Hope-Lambertville Toll Bridge project will serve as a prototype for converting six other toll bridges with former cash toll plazas to open-road tolling.

The agency noted that it has already ceased accepting cash tolls at these locations, moving to an all-electronic system that utilizes E-ZPass, which offers lower rates, and TOLL BY PLATE, which has higher rates.

Cashless toll collection is considered safer, more environmentally friendly, and less costly to manage, according to the commission.

The construction contract for the project was awarded to PFK-MARK III Inc., of Newtown, for a cost not exceeding $11,863,715.00. STV Inc. of Lawrenceville, New Jersey, received a construction management and inspection services contract for a maximum of $2,476,202.84.

Key aspects of the project include:

Removing a northbound roadway jog at the tolling point and reconstructing the median barrier.
Replacing existing guide rail with a single-face concrete barrier.
Demolishing the former cash toll plaza and capping tunnel egress stairs.
Installing a single-span monopipe gantry with concrete support columns.
Demolishing and rebuilding the bridge’s Pennsylvania abutment backwall, which is currently cracked.
Repairing and resetting the tooth dam in the abutment’s header.
Reconstructing approach slabs, the median barrier, wingwall extension, and parapets up to the retaining wall.
Replacing the Pennsylvania abutment drainage trough and other drainage inlets.

TransCore will handle the installation, calibration, and testing of the tolling equipment under a pre-existing agreement.

Construction is expected to begin this summer and last for slightly over a year.

The bridge will remain open in both directions throughout the construction period, though lane closures and traffic shifts will be necessary. Details on specific travel restrictions will be announced later, the commission said.

All project work, including roadway realignment and abutment repairs, is anticipated to be complete by late winter or early spring of 2027.

Cash toll collection ended in June 2024 at the New Hope-Lambertville, Milford-Montague (Route 206), and Portland Columbia (Routes 46, 611, 94) bridges. It ceased in January 2025 at the I-78, Easton-Phillipsburg (Route 22), Delaware Water Gap (I-80), and Trenton-Morrisville (Route 1) bridges. The Scudder Falls (I-295) Toll Bridge opened in 2019 with all-electronic tolling already in place.

The New Hope-Lambertville Toll Bridge opened in 1971. It initially collected tolls in both directions but switched to one-way southbound collection in December 2002.

In 2024, the bridge carried an average of 13,800 vehicles daily, with an exceptionally high E-ZPass usage rate of 92.65 percent.

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