© 2024 WRVO Public Media
NPR News for Central New York
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Thruway board expected to vote on truck toll hike

Jacob Enos
/
Flickr

The New York State Thruway Authority has scheduled a board meeting for Friday afternoon.  There is no public agenda yet, but it is believed that the board will consider a 45 percent increase in truck tolls.

A spokesman for the Thruway Authority says the meeting agenda is not yet available. But Brian Sampson, with the pro-business group Unshackle Upstate, says based on the timing and location of the meeting , it is likely that a 45 percent truck toll hike proposal floated months ago will be voted on. The meeting will be held not at Authority headquarters in Albany, but at a sub-office in Suffern, late on a Friday, three days after Election Day.

“The only conclusion we can draw is that they’re going to go forward with the 45 percent toll increase,” said Sampson.

He says the Thruway Authority is doing a “disservice” to New Yorkers if it does not first undergo a forensic audit to identify unnecessary spending and possible waste within the department.

Sampson warns that if the toll hike for trucks is approved, it will drive up the cost of goods for consumers, since he says 90 percent of products in stores are shipped by trucks. 

Karen DeWitt is Capitol Bureau Chief for New York State Public Radio, a network of 10 public radio stations in New York State. She has covered state government and politics for the network since 1990.