Split tolling can’t come quickly enough (letter to the editor)

By Carlo A. Scissura, Esq., and Cesar J. Claro

The roadways of a city are often compared to the veins and arteries of a person’s circulatory system. In New York’s case, there’s no question that significant treatment is necessary.

We see the effects of this condition around the five boroughs: hours wasted stuck in traffic, poor air quality and decreased economic activity. If we can address New York City’s transit challenges, we can continue the remarkable growth this city has seen over the past decade, with tremendous job creation and economic activity and better livelihoods for all residents.

The current one-way tolling scheme on the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge is a perfect example of a situation in desperate need of change. One-way tolling creates an incentive for out-of-state drivers to toll shop around the city, leading to increased congestion, lost MTA revenues and worsened air quality. It also increases traffic on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

It’s not fair to New Yorkers that a considerable number of drivers coming over the Verrazzano to the east are taking advantage of a toll-free route into Manhattan via the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges, while vehicles heading into New Jersey pay $19 to cross westbound. These distortions play out to an imbalance of nearly 9,000 cars per day, totaling over 3.2 million cars per year.

The recent passage into law of “split tolling” across the Verrazzano, spearheaded by Senator Charles Schumer and Congressmembers Max Rose, Jerry Nadler and Nydia Velazquez – and backed by a sizable number of elected officials from both parties across the city – is the type of commonsense, nonpartisan leadership that will deliver results for New Yorkers.

The argument for split tolling has been laid out before: fewer out-of-state drivers taking advantage of our infrastructure without paying their share; increased revenue for New York infrastructure without raising costs to commuters; and reducing congestion across the city.

Split tolling can’t come quickly enough. We congratulate Senator Schumer and Representatives Rose, Nadler and Velazquez, along with the bipartisan state and city officials who have led this well-overdue push for a logical solution to a serious traffic challenge New Yorkers face daily.

(Carlo A. Scissura, Esq., is president and CEO of the New York Building Congress and Cesar J. Claro is president & CEO of the Staten Island Economic Development Corporation.)

https://www.silive.com/news/2019/12/split-tolling-cant-come-quickly-enough-letter-to-the-editor.html