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Commuters will have to keep paying more to drive into town from New Jersey, at least for now.

A federal judge said Monday that steep toll hikes implemented by the Port Authority can stay in place while a lawsuit against the increases works its way through the courts.

“This is killing me. I'm commuting every day to New Jersey to work, and it's a lot more money,” said one resident.

“It's affecting me a lot because I go to New Jersey every day, so I hope they can reverse it if they can,” said another.

Back in September, the Port Authority raised peak hour tolls from $8 to $9.50 for E-ZPass customers and $12 for cash customers on each of the four bridges and two tunnels that connect New York to New Jersey.

Within days, AAA went to court seeking to overturn the hike. The auto club claims it violates the federal highway act because the extra money would help pay for redeveloping the World Trade Center site, something the Port Authority itself admitted.

However, a federal judge ruled there was no evidence to support that.

“That makes me feel angry because those projects. They should get money from their own loans or whatever but not from the tolls,” said one resident.

“I don't think we should pay for it, honestly. They're making so much money down there on other things, I think they got other income,” said another.

The judge also ruled that AAA hasn't provided enough evidence to warrant a return to the old, lower rates, but he didn't throw the suit out entirely, giving the green light for a trial to move ahead.

“This fight is far from over,” said Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis. “We are moving forward, AAA will move forward with the discovery now.”

For its part, the Port Authority says it has stated all along that it believes the AAA lawsuit is without merit.

The agency says it's happy with the court's ruling.