New York State Thruway Authority
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New York State Thruway Authority |
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| State level | New York State Operation |
| legal form | Public company |
| founding | June 24, 1950 |
| Headquarters | 200 Southern Boulevard, Albany , New York |
| Authority management | Howard P. Milstein, Chair, Thruway Board of Directors |
| Servants | more than 1,600 |
| Web presence | www.thruway.ny.gov |
The New York State Thruway Authority (NYSTA) is a public benefit corporation of the US state of New York that is responsible for parts of the state's transportation infrastructure. The legal basis for this agency is Article 2, Section 9 of the New York State Public Authorities Act. The headquarters of the New York State Thruway Authority is located at 200 Southern Boulevard in Albany .
history
The agency was formed in 1950 to build and operate the New York State Thruway. The New York State Canal Corporation ( Canal Corporation ) is a subsidiary of NYSTA, founded 1992nd This is entrusted with the operation of the sewer systems in New York State. In 1991 and 1992 the operation of the Cross-Westchester Expressway and Interstate 84 was partially transferred to NYSTA. However, the authorities were not allowed to collect tolls for use. The New York State Department of Transportation had paid for it.
Today the New York State Thruway includes 4,500 track kilometers, 809 bridges, more than 305 office and maintenance buildings, 27 rest areas, 275 toll booths, 120 water wells, 18 sewage treatment plants and 26 gas stations. The Canal Corporation adds another 849 kilometers of navigable canal with 57 locks and 20 movable bridges. The importance of the channels for the transport of goods has diminished over time. Today the canals, especially the Erie Canal , are mainly used for tourism purposes, which also bring economic benefits for the neighboring communities. NYSTA is divided into 4 regional offices based in Albany, Buffalo, Syracuse and Suffern with headquarters in Albany.
New York State Thruway
The main task of the NYSTA is the maintenance and operation of the toll New York State Thruway, or Governor Thomas E. Dewey Thruway , in New York State and the Tappan Zee Bridge over the Hudson River in its course. Further sections under the administration of NYSTA form connections to the Connecticut and Massachusetts turnpikes, to the New Jersey Garden State Parkway and to other highways towards New England and Canada .
The road, named after former Governor Thomas E. Dewey , has a total length of 917.05 km on the territory of New York State. It runs from New York City via Buffalo to the Pennsylvania border near Ripley on the south shore of Lake Erie . In the east-west direction it is Interstate 90 , in the north-south direction it is interstate 87 , which is partly maintained by the New York State Department of Transportation or has the maintenance carried out by the NSYTA. According to the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association , the New York State Thruway is the fifth busiest toll road in the United States.
Planning for this motorway began as early as the early 1940s. The first section between Utica and Rochester opened on June 24, 1954. The last only three mile long section between Yonkers and the Bronx in New York City opened on August 31, 1956. The total cost of building the highway, which was designed to travel at 70 miles per hour , was $ 600 million. At the opening, the freeway included portions of Interstate 87 , Interstate 90, and Interstate 95 . Other parts soon became part of Interstate 190 and Interstate 287 . The portion of Interstate 84 in New York State was part of the New York State Thruway from 1991 to 2010. The section around the city of Buffalo can be used without a toll.
The toll is collected in cash on the toll sections of the motorway at NYSTA toll stations or debited directly from the account using the E-ZPass . For this purpose, a transmitter is placed in the car, which automatically transfers its identifier to the system when passing through a toll station. Holders of an E-ZPass, which is also valid for other toll systems in the northeast of the USA, receive a discount of around 5 percent. The system was introduced by NYSTA in 1993. In 2009, the NSYTA had issued over 2.5 million E-Z passport contracts. For the use of the Tappan Zee Bridge a separate toll of 5 dollars (4.75 with E-ZPass) is charged in the east direction. There is a toll of between $ 23 and $ 27 (depending on the direction of travel) for a trip in a car over 790 kilometers between the city limits of New York City and Ripley.
To clear snow and ice, NYSTA has about 800 vehicles (about 3,000 total) that distributed about 204,000 tons of salt on the New York State Thruway in 2009. Around 31,000 man-days were required to clear the snow and 59,000 man-days to maintain the roads and bridges.
safety
The New York State Police ( State Police Troop T ) is responsible for the safety and monitoring of traffic rules on the road and on the canals of the New York State Canal Corporation . In 2009, 195,000 violations were reported on the thruway and 1,400 on the canals, about 86,000 of them for driving too fast.
Finances
The revenue from the road and bridge tolls for 2011 were 634.1 million in US dollars . This was a loss of $ 7.1 million compared to 2010, caused by the high gasoline price, Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee . Additional income, including from concessions, amounted to $ 33.4 million. This $ 667.5 million revenue was offset by spending $ 759.6 million in 2011. About 8.5 million of the expenses were used to repair the damage caused by the tropical storms. 13.4 million was paid that year as a contribution to early retirement pensions in 2010, in which approximately 10 percent of employees had left NYSTA. In 2009, however, NYSTA posted a surplus of about $ 34.5 million.
A major cost factor with ever increasing demand is the maintenance of the Tappan Zee Bridge, which was completed in 1955, has already exceeded its planned lifespan and receives much more traffic than was planned at the time. About $ 700 million has been spent on repairs and maintenance over the past 20 years. In the planning for the next 10 years it is estimated at one billion dollars. All expenses are paid for by NYSTA. There are therefore plans to replace the bridge with a new building.
future
There are plans to merge the New York State Thruway Authority with the much smaller New York State Bridge Authority to cut costs. The new agency is to work under new leadership together with the New York State Department of Transportation . With this merger, 450 to 600 of the approximately 12,900 jobs of the three authorities could be lost in the future.
Individual evidence
- ^ NYSTA Staff
- ^ A b c New York State Thruway, historic overview
- ↑ a b c d e f g 2009 Annual Report (pdf; 2.7 MB)
- ↑ a b c 2011 audited financial statements (pdf; 2.3 MB) ( Memento of the original dated November 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Dennis Cauchon (2008): Drivers to see major toll hikes, USA TODAY
- ↑ NYSTA Toll & Distance Calculator ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Plan offers road to transportation cost cuts, December 21, 2011 article in Times Union (Albany)
