Melanie Lekocevic is reporting for Capital Region Independent Media tolls on the Rip Van Winkle Bridge are set to increase beginning May 1. The toll hike will impact all five of the bridges under the jurisdiction of the New York State Bridge Authority, including the Rip Van Winkle, Bear Mountain, Newburgh-Beacon, Mid-Hudson and Kingston-Rhinecliff bridges. The toll charged for drivers with E-ZPass tags will be less than for those without a tag who are billed by mail. Cars, pick-up trucks and motorcycles with an E-ZPass tag will pay $1.55, up 10 cents from the current rate of $1.45. Those billed by mail will pay $2, up a quarter from the existing $1.75 rate. Commercial vehicles will pay more, as well. Only drivers traveling east on the bridges are charged a toll. “As part of a four-year, phased-in toll revision that started in 2020, rates will be increasing on May 1, 2022, and for a final time on May 1, 2023,” according to the New York State Bridge Authority. The present rates have been in effect since May 1, 2021. The Rip Van Winkle Bridge is a 5,041-foot span that was first opened July 2, 1935, and it connects Greene and Columbia counties. Read more at TheUpStater [dot] com.