Press release:
Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,I,C-Batavia) wrote to Governor Andrew Cuomo today, strongly encouraging the governor to stop the Thruway Authority Board from increasing tolls by 45 percent on commercial trucks with three axles or more. The assemblyman says the measure would slow job creation and increase costs to taxpayers and consumers alike.
In a letter to the govenor, Hawley wrote:
Thruway Authority Chairman Howard Milstein considers the 45-percent hike a "modest increase." A 45-percent spike in tolls is anything but a modest increase. In Western New York, this proposal would increase a trip between Buffalo and New York City for applicable trucks to roughly $127. The $39 cost increase will be passed onto consumers as companies increase the price of their goods in order to recoup the increased cost of doing business.
Trucks will be forced onto local roads in an attempt to avoid the tolls, causing the need for expensive repairs to local roadways -- placing, once again, the expense on the backs of local taxpayers. In addition, driving hazards will increase by adding more large trucks to local traffic.
This proposal will eliminate jobs for New Yorkers as trucking companies move out of the state and avoid doing business in New York entirely. As elected officials, it is our responsibility to work to reverse the irresponsible, job-killing taxes and fees that have plagued our state for years. We need to concentrate our efforts to reopen the "New" New York and empasize we are "Open" for business!
Semis already use RT 63 to RT
Semis already use RT 63 to RT 20 to RT 77and pick up the Thruway at the Pembroke interchange. Many of them use county roads which were not built for that kind of vehicles.
Who can blame them for trying to save some money?
Many of them use the toll free Southern Tier Expressway. No doubt there will be more of that.
All tolls along the Thruway
All tolls along the Thruway were supposed to be abolished when the construction bonds used to build it had been paid off. The last of the bonds were paid off in 1996.
Irene, one word - GREED. This
Irene, one word - GREED. This state is in the top 2 for greed. California and NY top the list. Why do we even need toll workers? It would be much less expensive to do away with all of those toll booths, the wages, state retirement and benefits for all of those workers and/or put in an automated toll system.
I like the idea of doing away with the tolls altogether but if the thruway maintenance and upkeep needs to be paid for somehow, automated tolls would be the way to go. It would be like getting rid of the IRS and going to a spend tax system..much more efficient.
My Brother has a management
My Brother has a management positon on the Western Region of the Thruway Authority ( He worked his way up, not a political Employee)
1. It is NOT TRUE that the tolls were supposed to go away in 1996, This is a misunderstood concept. Tolls were supposed to be REVIEWED in 1996, that is exactly how the legislation read, REVIEWED.
2. If the previous Govenor Coumo, had not added streches of Intersate that were not originally part of Thruway system , the Eire Canal system and the Tappen Z bridge to the Thruway in order to balance the state budget, The Thruway would to this day be in much better fiscal shape and several of the increases we have had would never had occurred.
Doug is correct in that it has to do alot with state spending, but the Thurway Authority is not the State per se, it is a separate authority that Politicians have been using as a piggy bank for other transportation projects statewide. The blame rest with our current Governor's Father and legislatures past, (Not the Present bunch)
I do not have a problem with tolls outside of certain city zones, it cost $5,000 a mile just to plow snow every year, and uf this wasn't paid by tolls charged everyone who drives the interstate, it would have to be to be paid by taxes. We live in the North East, weather pays a heavy toll on our roads, even with the best maintainance, our roads here are in constant need of repair because of the climate we live in.
The best thing we could do is what the State Of Indiana did a few years back, they privatized the their interstate, the tolls came down, the retirement of new hires moved from the state coffers to 401ks and the state save nearly $1Bil oh, and the maintainance improved.
LOL Mark....that makes sense,
LOL Mark....that makes sense, which is exactly why it wont ever happen. Common sense solutions always seem to get implemented after the day late and dollar short point when they will generally fail as well.
How is it that other states
How is it that other states run the interstate system with out the tolls?
So much for the governor's NY
So much for the governor's NY is business friendly.
Like Mark pointed out,
Like Mark pointed out, mismanagement and misuse of toll finances by state politicians. If NYS keeps lifting the price of tolls, they may find themselves losing money in the long run. Since, the last toll increase, I have stopped taking the Thruway and travel more of the back roads to work. It has only added five (05) minutes on my travel time and my gas mileage per gallon has not really changed. Not to mention less stress and less delay time from accidents.
Heck, a good example of mismanagement of transportation funds would be last summer in the Towns of Niagara, Wheatfield, Sanborn. They repaved Lockport Road and two weeks later the water authority dug up this freshly paved road to put in the public waterline. Amazing what a huge waste of time and money.
The North Eastern States have
The North Eastern States have tolls on most of the Interstate system. The need for tolls is not revenue, but road maintainance, in the north East because of our cold and realatively wet climate, the cost of maintainance is higher than southern and midwestern states.
Also states like New York, New Jersey Massachusetts, have an enormously larger amount of traffic compared to midwestern states and southern states, Likewise the PA Turnpike which is a toll road.
Tolls are not intended to be a revenue sources for the State, rather an offset for maintainance of the Interstate system, unfortunately, some politicians do not see it that way.