N.Y. Thruway Tolls Won’t Rise in 2016, but Trucking Fears Future Increases
New York drivers won’t pay more to use the state’s Thruway in 2016, the sixth straight year without an increase.
“Given our success in balancing the Thruway’s budget and the infusion of additional funding from Gov. [Andrew] Cuomo, we have alleviated the need to implement a toll increase for the remainder of 2015 and for all of 2016,” Thruway Authority Executive Director Robert Megna announced on Nov. 9. “The New NY Bridge project has made tremendous progress, which anyone who drives over the Tappan Zee can see first-hand, and we will continue to work to find ways to keep tolls as low as possible for commuters.”
The Thruway Authority attributed the decision to avoid toll increases to a $1.285 billion infusion of funds from the state’s near-$6 billion settlement with a number of large financial institutions as well as a $1.6 billion Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
At the same time, the Thruway Authority announced that a five-member task force will make recommendations on future toll rates.
“We’re obviously pleased that we won’t pay any more to drive the Thruway in 2016, but we still have concerns about the future,” said New York State Motor Truck Association President Kendra Hems, who was disappointed that no representative from her group was asked to serve on the task force. “While we support the rebuilding of the Tappan Zee Bridge, which is a critical pathway for our industry and for our economy, the public still hasn’t the financing plan for it beyond next year. The task force should have been formed before the governor went ahead with the Tappan Zee project.”
It costs a 5-axle truck $93.33 in tolls to drive the 495 miles from Exit 1 in Yonkers to Exit 61 at the Pennsylvania state line.
The Thruway Authority’s 2016 budget forecast shows a traffic growth of 3.4 million vehicles or 1.3 percent above 2015, for total volume of 259.3 million vehicles.
