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Looming 45% Thruway toll increase draws complaints
Posted at: 07/17/2012 3:48 PM
| Updated at: 07/17/2012 5:52 PM
By: Bill Lambdin
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ALBANY - It is quite a large increase and symptomatic of big problems according to Rotterdam Assemblyman George Amedore.
"This is an authority, a bureaucracy, who is not accountable to anyone. We see that day after day," Amedore said Tuesday.
The Thruway Authority wants to raise truck tolls 45 percent. A three-axle truck driving from Buffalo to New York City would see its toll rise from $88 to $127.
"This ridiculously labeled, modest toll hike fails the fiscal and public perception requirements and fails miserably," said Mike Durant, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business.
Opponents gathered just across the street from the Thruway's Albany headquarters argue such a big toll increase will ripple through all of the state's economy since so many products are carried by trucks.
"You either pass those costs on to the shopper and/or you reroute the traffic onto secondary roads through the residential areas," said Ted Potrikus, executive vice president of the Retail Council of New York State.
There will be public hearings throughout the state concerning the proposed 45 percent Thruway truck toll increase. But the final decision belongs to the Thruway's Board. Legislators and the governor do not have the ability to prevent the increase if the Thruway's leaders decide to go forward.
A spokesman for the Thruway Authority declined an interview request on the pending toll increase.
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