Gov. Andrew Cuomo said if re-elected he would not raise Thruway tolls despite questions over the funding of the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement.
The majority of funding for the $3.9 billion, twin-span bridge remains up in the air and has some regional leaders concerned the toll on the new bridge could reach as high as $15, triple the $5 cash toll of the current bridge. Cuomo, at an Oct. 22 gubernatorial debate, said it was premature to discuss the cost of the toll.
“You can”™t really figure out the toll until you know the final bill,” he said. “But it will be affordable for commuters and we understand that.”
- A rendering of the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement.
The Oct. 22 debate was the only face-to-face matchup between Cuomo and his Republican opponent, Rob Astorino, Westchester”™s county executive. Astorino accused the governor, a Democrat, of withholding information about the toll as a campaign ploy because it could draw the ire of drivers.
“We were supposed to know what the tolls were, which they”™re absolutely going to double or triple, but he won”™t say anything until after the election,” he said. “He has no financing plan.”
The state has received a $1.6 billion loan from the U.S. Department of Transportation and Cuomo said he continues to seek state subsidies and federal grants for the remainder.
The questions surrounding the funding have some concerned that it would increase the cost of the bridge through standard interest rates. A $511 million loan out of a federal clean water fund was almost entirely rejected by the Environmental Protection Agency this fall because the agency said the construction was a misuse of the fund. Those rejected loans would have saved $17 million over three years compared with traditional bonds, according to figures presented by the state this summer.
The concerns about toll hikes on the Thruway and elsewhere in the state”™s system arise from concerns by some outside the region, who feel that a system-wide increase may be on the horizon to absorb the cost of the new bridge construction. Cuomo”™s answer at the debate implied the governor was committed to finding a different funding structure for the new Tappan Zee Bridge.
The state Thruway Authority has said there would be no increases on authority roads this year, but the agency saw its bond rating reduced last year by Moody”™s Investors Service, which said the authority might not raise its tolls quickly enough to pay for the replacement bridge.
Rockland County Executive Ed Day, a Republican, expressed concern that an expensive toll could affect commerce on the other side of the Hudson River by discouraging potential shoppers on the Westchester side from crossing over. At a meeting of the advocacy group Pattern for Progress in the spring, Day scoffed at comparisons of the Tappan Zee to New York City crossings. He said no one ever compared it with the only other bridge linking Rockland and Westchester: the Bear Mountain Bridge.
“Gee, you know why? It”™s only a buck fifty,” he said.
A financing and toll commission that would look to determine what the new toll will be has been established but has not yet been appointed by the governor. Astorino and others have suggested that the state could enact a resident discount. Staten Island residents with E-ZPass receive a discounted rate for the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, which has a cash toll of $15 and an E-ZPass rate of $10.67.
The election is Nov. 4. Astorino has chipped away at Cuomo”™s lead but still trailed by 20 points according to the latest Quinnipiac University poll. Also appearing on the ballot are Libertarian Party candidate Michael McDermott and Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins, who is polling at nearly 10 percent, a large figure for a third-party candidate.
