{"id":425963,"date":"2026-10-12T22:24:07","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T22:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/425963\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T22:24:07","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T22:24:07","slug":"jta-ceos-mention-of-tolls-in-jacksonville-sparks-reaction-from-residents-mayor-who-oppose-the-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/425963\/","title":{"rendered":"JTA CEO\u2019s mention of tolls in Jacksonville sparks reaction from residents, mayor who oppose the return"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A discussion of tolling authority by Jacksonville Transportation Authority interim CEO Cleveland Ferguson has prompted pushback from drivers and Mayor Donna Deegan, though JTA says it is not proposing tolls.<\/p>\n

At a Friday meeting of the City Council\u2019s Financial Oversight and Audit Select Committee, Ferguson said JTA has tolling authority and described a hypothetical project involving a private partner and an existing JTA asset, such as the Skyway.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can imagine working with a private partner on a toll role, let\u2019s call it the Skyway,\u201d Ferguson said, referring to a potential way to generate revenue.<\/p>\n

In a statement on its website<\/a>, JTA said Ferguson was not proposing or advocating for the reinstatement of bridge tolls. The authority said he mentioned tolling in the historical context of JTA\u2019s former role as an expressway authority.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt hasn\u2019t been used in a long, long time,\u201d Ferguson said. He described past opportunities to retain roads and charge tolls, including the possibility of an HOV lane.<\/p>\n

PREVIOUS STORY | JTA CEO mentions tolls during meeting about closing $39M budget gap; JTA says it wasn\u2019t meant as a solution<\/a><\/p>\n

Ferguson was speaking before Jacksonville\u2019s Financial Audit and Oversight Select Committee in the first of five scheduled meetings. The meetings come just weeks after nearly 200 employees were laid off, and JTA revealed a nearly $ 40 million budget shortfall. <\/p>\n

The topic is sensitive for many Jacksonville residents. Tolls helped pay for bridge construction beginning in the 1950s, including the Matthews, Fuller Warren, Hart and Dames Point bridges. Toll collection continued after the construction of JTB, frustrating some taxpayers. Abolishing tolls became a campaign issue in 1987, and voters later replaced them with a half-cent sales tax. <\/p>\n

MORE | News4Jax\u2019s look back at Jacksonville\u2019s toll system<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like everything is already high enough,\u201d Jacksonville driver Regina Wright said. \u201cWe need no more taxes and no more tolls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan is also weighing in on the toll talk, saying in a statement over the weekend that she would oppose any effort to bring tolls back.<\/p>\n

\u201cJacksonville has been down this road before, and the people have already spoken loud and clear,\u201d Deegan said. \u201cThere are many other solutions that should be considered to alleviate the current financial crisis. Tolls is not one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jacksonville driver Margarita Diaz-Hernandez also opposed the idea, saying tolls can be difficult to afford.<\/p>\n

JTA has statutory authority to collect tolls, but the agency says it has no active proposal or recommendation to reinstate them.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A discussion of tolling authority by Jacksonville Transportation Authority interim CEO Cleveland Ferguson has prompted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":425964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117,799],"class_list":["post-425963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jta"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}