Toll relief, $22 billion capital plan announced ahead of State of the State speech

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has announced proposals to freeze, credit and eliminate some of the state”™s Thruway tolls while also generating a $22 billion capital multiyear plan to update and maintain the state”™s infrastructure.

Few details were made available about how the new plans and projects for the state Thruway Authority will be funded ”“ though more information is expected in and after the governor”™s executive budget and State of the State speech Wednesday ”“ but roads, bridges and other infrastructure projects in upstate New York are expected to be the focus of funding.

The tolls initiative, which is statewide, is broken down in three parts:

• All Thruway Authority tolls will not increase through 2020, including the current Tappan Zee Bridge and its work-in-progress replacement, which is set to be completely finished in 2018.
• New York E-ZPass users who drive on state highways frequently ”“ or passenger vehicles that spend more than $50 annually on tolls and business or commercial vehicles that spend between $100 and $9,999 each year ”“ will get a 50 percent tax credit back on toll costs.
• New York farmers will get a 100 percent tax credit back on tolls.

The possibility of rising tolls have been a concern for many Tappan Zee users in Westchester and Rockland counties particularly as the bridge”™s construction is more than halfway completed and it has not been made clear how the remaining cost of the roughly $3.9 billion price tag will be covered.

A seven-member Tappan Zee Bridge toll advisory task force was announced in November at a Thruway Authority board of directors meeting. The group is expected to produce a report on the bridge”™s toll rates and potential discounts for commuters and residents mid way through this year.

More than $2.3 billion of the bridge replacement”™s cost has been covered using $1.6 billion in federal low-interest loans, $31.3 million in low-interest loans from the federal Clean Water State Revolving Fund and $750 million of $1.285 billion bank settlement funds that was committed to the Thruway Authority in 2015.

An additional $700 million from state settlement money is being put toward the Thruway to support the new toll credits and to keep rates flat, according to Cuomo when he announced the plans in Syracuse on Jan. 6.

For more on these plans and other proposals Cuomo has recently announced, the State of the State speech will be at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 13.