Unlike most Interstates, New York's longest, most traveled portion of the US superhighway network is not a freeway.  Rather, our Thruway is a turnpike maintained by a quasi-government agency called an "authority" that is empowered, with nominal state legislature approval, to collect and periodically increase its tolls.

Toll increases put in place during the last decade -- after Thruway Authority bonds were paid off and at which time toll collection was to have ceased in accordance with the Authority's charter -- have combined with record-high fuel prices to drive the current cost of Thruway travel up to over $.20 per mile, excluding vehicle wear/tare. 

Of course, that cost is significantly higher for freight-hauling trucks that consume more fuel and also pay higher Thruway tolls; more on that subject later.

The Thruway Authority is currently contemplating yet another toll hike.  This time the rationale for doing so is that high fuel prices have led to a substantial decrease in the number of motorists using the Thruway which, in turn, has created a shortfall in toll revenue.

Logic would dictate that lighter traffic leads to lower road-maintenance expenses.  Perhaps that is true in states that rely on relatively uncomplicated highway departments, but New York is rife with self-serving, multi-layered beaurocracies, like the Thruway Authority, that offer lucrative executive and administrative positions for the recipients of political favors. 

Therefore, complacent New Yorkers always expect higher prices, taxes and fees instead of fiscally responsible alternatives like political appointee layoffs or caps on spending.  Non-New Yorkers, on the other hand, are flabbergasted by the cost of doing just about anything in New York.  The concept and cost of paying tolls, even for simple trips between Interstate exits, is a major turn-off.  

Expensive travel has taken a huge toll on both tourism and commerce in our state.  Things have gotten so expensive for truckers with diesel fuel over $4.00 a gallon and road use taxes higher than ever, that they are now threatening to boycott the Thruway should another toll hike be implemented. 

"These are simply unacceptable rates of increase that will seriously affect the competitiveness of New York's businesses," the New York Business Council recently warned the Thruway Authority in written anti-toll increase testimony.  The group said the toll increase "...could make the Thruway more expensive than the major toll roads in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Massachusetts which, in turn, is likely to compel some truckers and companies to use roads in those states other than the Thruway and/or to seek non-toll roads in New York."

For a decade, the issue of Thruway toll elimination has been obfuscated, and anti-Thruway toll protests minimized, as a result of the Authority's successful media campaign to sell and glorify a quick-pay automated toll collection system known as E-ZPass.

However, now that truckers' concern has shifted back to the cost of tolls rather than the Thruway's method of collecting them, we might finally see a major movement to make the Thruway Authority do the right thing as regards the cessation of Thruway toll collection.

If the Thruway Authority takes a hike, many New Yorkers and potential visitors are likely to do likewise.

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