A woman has been collecting tolls for 50 years at the bridges and tunnels between New Jersey and New York.
The Port Authority on Monday honored Elizabeth Branch, who became an employee in 1965.
Tolls cost 50 cents then. Today, it's $14 to drive into New York City from her post at the Holland Tunnel.
"I never dreamed I'd make it 50 years but I made it," Branch said last Thursday.
The Brooklyn woman has worked through lane changes, plaza redesigns and the start of E-Z Pass. The Port Authority estimates she has taken tolls from 12 million drivers.
Branch tells The Record newspaper the keys to her job are to keep angry motorists moving and to work the midnight shift. Branch says the air is fresher, the partiers who drive through are fun and the big bosses are gone for the day.
The Bergenfield resident was given gifts including an American flag that flew atop the World Trade Center and a charcoal drawing of the Holland Tunnel toll plaza.
