No Thruway toll hikes in 2016

Megna said the low-interest $1.6 billion Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan from the U.S. Department of Transportation also helped keep tolls flat.

But, as CBS2’s Alice Gainer reported, there will be a delay in the construction of the new bridge to replace the Tappan Zee. Today, Megna also named an advisory committee to study new toll structures for the new bridge.

The NY Thruway Authority says highway and bridge tolls won’t increase in 2016.

The authority’s budget acknowledges gaps in future years.

“We know it’s not something that can be relied upon year in and year out”, he said.

“There’s really no expectation for the industry to plan on”.

Tolls system wide were last increased six years ago.

Megna has spent 20 years working in state government.

The authority expects modest traffic growth of 3.4 million vehicles, or 1.3 percent above 2015, for a total volume of 259.3 million vehicles systemwide.

Thruway motorists will fund the state’s money-losing canal system at a total operating level of $54 million in 2016, which does not include another $40 million for canal capital spending. Before being tapped by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in January to become the Thruway Authority’s executive director, Megna was the director of the state Division of Budget.

“You should not change the policy for people who have already retired”. One said Thruway unions accepted smaller salary increases than other state workers in past contracts in return for not touching health insurance coverage for retirees. Their pleas were rejected by the Thruway board. The task force will be co-chaired by Matthew J. Driscoll, commissioner of the state DOT, and the executive director of the Thruway Authority.

Megna is leaving the Thruway for a position at Stony Brook University.