Bordentown to JFK - Best Route(s) for Straight Truck

[ATeam]

Alternative:

N I-95 across George Washington Bridge
S I-295 across Throgs Neck Bridge
W I-495
S I-678 to JFK

It's five miles further than taking the Whitestone Bridge route but that bridge sucks. Throgs Neck is more plesant, we have come to believe (to the extent any bridge is pleasant in that area).

Going across GW, Lane 8 is our toll booth of choice. You can get into and stay in the left lane well ahead of the bridge, saving you from lane changes. That lane opens up to a few more at the toll plaza. Lane 8 is EZ-Pass only and leaves you well positioned after you are through the toll plaza to claim space in a lane on the bridge.

 

[ATeam]

So, starting from the Bordentown, NJ, Petro truck stop, three routes to JFK have been suggested:

Designated by the bridges used, they are (miles in parentheses):

1. Goethals/Verrazano Narrows (83)

2. GW/Whitestone (90)

3. GW/Throgs Neck (95)

These routes all follow interstate highways, not parkways.

To get a sense of tolls on these INBOUND routes, let's drive hypothetical trucks to JFK in the middle of a weekday (M-F), say from noon to 2:00 p.m.

For a two-axle straight truck, three-axle straight truck and an 18-wheeler big rig (five axles), what would the toll costs be for that drive to JFK?

Same question for the the three routes out; that is for the return trip to Bordentown.

While not everyone would take the NJ Turnpike all the way in and out, let's take it and include those tolls too.

E-ZPass toll rates and cash rates differ. Let's assume the trucks are equipped with E-ZPass transponders.

E-ZPass rates vary depending on the entity that provides the transponder, and I think also perhaps by the driver's state of residence (I might be wrong about that part). Let's assume the transponder in each truck is provided by the State of Delaware and the driver is a Delaware resident, and the truck is registered in Delaware.

 

[BobWolf]

You can order free paper maps of NYC major streets, truck routes here and get good info for driving in N.Y.C.

NYC DOT - Trucks and Commercial Vehicles

The maps are free.

 

[ATeam]

Here is a small beginning to answering the questions I asked in post #22 above (click the little image below). The numbers may be wrong. I did this in a hurry. But I post it anyway to illustrate a way of thinking about how you run in the Northeast, and more importantly, what you charge to do so.

If one or more of you could help pull together the numbers for all three truck types mentioned above, I'd be pleased to finish the chart and post it here.

 

[ATeam]

The short story is the three routes differ very little in total toll cost to make that one-way trip from Bordentown to JFK. For a two-axle straight truck, $49-$50 will be paid in tolls. More will be paid by a three-axle truck and much more by a five-axle truck.

It leaves me wondering if the tolling authorities are making more money off such a run than the drivers. At what point are we workin for the government more than ourselves?

 

[CharlesD]

There is money to be made there if you charge enough. There is no reason for a load in or out of NYC to not be very profitable.

 

[ATeam]

There is money to be made there if you charge enough. There is no reason for a load in or out of NYC to not be very profitable.

I agree, but how do drivers know what to charge? Just the little homework I did to calculate tolls for the chart posted above involved a fair amount of work.

 

[CharlesD]

I agree, but how do drivers know what to charge? Just the little homework I did to calculate tolls for the chart posted above involved a fair amount of work.

We bid around .45 higher per mile and add $100 on top of that for anything into NYC. I figure the driver should clear more after all expenses to go in there. That's for loads with a decent length. For short loads, we price those quite a bit higher. If you're leased to a carrier, maybe ask for an extra .25 above your normal rate plus $90 or more for tolls. If your carrier isn't charging at least that for NYC, then they have no business quoting loads into there.

 

[ATeam]

We bid around .45 higher per mile and add $100 on top of that for anything into NYC. I figure the driver should clear more after all expenses to go in there. That's for loads with a decent length. For short loads, we price those quite a bit higher. If you're leased to a carrier, maybe ask for an extra .25 above your normal rate plus $90 or more for tolls. If your carrier isn't charging at least that for NYC, then they have no business quoting loads into there.

Since we moved to Landstar Express America, our toll expenses plummeted because we do not go to that area as often. Massive (obscene) toll increases were imposed in the last year or so. But because tolls are not the issue they used to be for us, I have not looked closely at the present situation. Ball park, for our three-axle truck, I would be inclined to add a $200 surcharge to each run into, out of, or within the Northeast.

 

[sectra1]

Thank you for all your help. If you take a google map and drag routes around from Bordentown to JFK the times are all about the same.

Thanks also for the clarification about the two bridge tolls. I had not caught that from an outside forum post.

 

[CharlesD]

In all my time on the road I did quite a few runs into JFK and I found that generally I had better luck going across Staten Island than the GW.

 

[blizzard2014]

In all my time on the road I did quite a few runs into JFK and I found that generally I had better luck going across Staten Island than the GW.

Is Stanton where the Verrazano bridge is? I've gone that route before when I was in a big truck. There is a lot of freight that comes out of Jamaica New York. It's not such a nice area to park at, but you will get loaded out of that area pretty quick.