No Toll Increases For Truckers On New York Thruway, Budget Cuts Instead

Mike

Well-Known Member
The New York State Thruway Authority has decided that budget cuts, not toll increases, is the way to meet its future fiscal obligations.

Last May, Thruway officials had proposed a 45 percent toll hike on truck traffic to fill its $92 million operational deficit and fulfill promises to Wall Street investors.

But the trucking industry objected loudly and was joined by business, lawmaker and even New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo himself.

The new proposed Thruway budget would eliminate 361 jobs, scale back worker benefits, shed bad debt and save, in the long term hundreds of millions of dollars, officials said.

“The new spending plan “does not include a toll hike,” said Thomas Madison, executive director of the authority, at a news conference Monday.

As an example of how the toll hike would have impacted the trucking industry, the toll for a three-axle truck traveling from Buffalo to New York City is about $88.

That could have increase to $127 under the proposal taken off the table Monday.

Tolls were last raised on the 641-mile highway system in 2010 for all drivers, increasing the typical toll more than 25 percent.

“It’s a very special day for the Thruway Authority,” Madison said. “It’s a historic day.”

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