Schwartz: ‘Tolls will have to rise’

Current and former officials defended planned toll hikes at a Aug. 5 media briefing.

Three former Westchester County Executives with a combined 36 years in office voiced their support for a new Tappan Zee Bridge on Sunday as state officials defended plans to nearly triple tolls in 2017.

Larry Schwartz, Secretary to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the governor”™s point man on the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement project, said at a hastily called Aug. 5 media briefing that tolls would increase whether or not a new bridge is built.

The state estimates round-trip tolls on the new bridge will be $8.40 for commuters, $13.30 for E-ZPass users and $14.00 for those who pay in cash.

Currently, commuters pay $3.30 round-trip, while E-ZPass users pay $4.75 and cash customers pay $5.00.

If a bus-rapid-transit (BRT) system were to be included in the initial construction of the bridge, tolls would jump to $16.80 for commuters and $28.00 for cash customers, Schwartz said.

He added tolls would rise to $7.20 for commuters and $12.00 for cash customers even if no new bridge were built, due to the high cost estimates for repairs to the current bridge.

“Under any of the options, tolls will have to rise,” Schwartz said. “We”™re talking about five years from now when this new bridge opens.”

Schwartz said the state is not considering instituting immediate toll hikes as a means of diluting increases five years from now.

Under the estimates, which Schwartz said were by no means final, round-trip tolls would still be considerably lower than on the George Washington Bridge, where there is not currently a commuter discount price and where the round-trip cash toll is projected at $15.00 in 2017.

Former Westchester County Executives Al DelBello, Andy O”™Rourke and Andy Spano, whose combined time in office stretched from 1974 to the end of 2009, spoke in support of the plans to build a transit-ready bridge now.

“What we want to do today is endorse Governor Cuomo”™s plan and give him credit for digging his heels in” and promising that the bridge will be built, said DelBello, currently partner at White Plains law firm DelBello Donnellan Weingarten Wise & Wiederkehr L.L.P.