New York State Thruway
History
The New York State Thruway Authority was founded in 1950 to build the New York State Thruway and operate. The New York State Canal Corporation (Canal Corporation ) is a subsidiary of the NYSTA which was founded in 1992. This is entrusted with the operation of the canal system in New York State. In the years 1991 and 1992, the operation of the Cross -Westchester Expressway and Interstate 84 was partially transferred to the NYSTA. However, it was the authority for the use of toll prohibited to take, the New York State Department of Transportation had taken over the cost. Today part of the New York State Thruway 4,500 track kilometers, 809 bridges, more than 305 office and maintenance building, 27 rest areas, toll 275 outlets, 120 water wells, 18 wastewater treatment plants and 26 service stations. From the Canal Corporation further 849 km of navigable channel will be added with 57 locks and 20 swing bridges. The importance of the channels for the transport of goods has become less and less over time. Today the channels, especially the Erie Canal are mainly a touristic used destina that brings economic benefits for the riparian communities. The NYSTA is divided into four 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 - duty New York State Thruway, or even Governor Thomas E. Dewey Thruway, in New York State and the Tappan Zee Bridge over the Hudson River in the course. Other sections administered by the NYSTA form connections to the Connecticut and Massachusetts Turnpike, the New Jersey Garden State Parkway and other highways toward New England and Canada.
The New York State Thruway, named after the former Governor Thomas E. Dewey, has a total length of 917.05 km on the territory of the State of New York. It runs from New York City via Buffalo to the border of Pennsylvania at Ripley on the southern shore of Lake Erie. In the east-west direction it is Interstate 90, a north-south direction, it is among other things the Interstate 87 which is maintained in part by the New York State Department of Transportation or the conversation can be carried out by the NSYTA. According to the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association of New York State Thruway is the toll road, which has the fifth largest volume of traffic in the U.S..
The planning for this highway began in the early 1940s, the first section between Utica and Rochester was opened on 24 June 1954. The last three -mile stretch between Yonkers and the Bronx in New York City was opened on 31 August 1956. The total cost for construction of the highway, which was designed for a speed of 70 miles per hour, amounted to $ 600,000. At the opening of the highway included parts of Interstate 87, Interstate 90 and Interstate 95 Other parts were shortly thereafter part of Interstate 190 and Interstate 287 was the part of Interstate 84 in New York State from 1991 to 2010 part of the New York State Thruway. The section around the city of Buffalo is to navigate without tolling.
The toll is taken on the toll due pieces of the highway at NYSTA toll stations in cash, or charged via the E- ZPass directly from the account. For this, a transmitter is placed in the car, which automatically plays its identifier to the system while driving through a toll stations. Owner of an E- ZPass, which is also valid for other toll systems in the northeastern United States to receive a discount about 5 percent. The system was introduced by the NYSTA 1993, in 2009 the NSYTA had issued over 2.5 million e- ZPassverträge. To use the Tappan Zee Bridge toll a separate contribution of $ 5 is levied (4.75 with E- ZPass ) in the direction East. For a ride with a car on the 790 km between the city limits of New York City and Ripley 23-27 dollars will levied tolls (depending on direction of travel).
For removal of snow and ice, the NYSTA stops in front of about 800 vehicles ( around 3,000 ), who distributed approximately 204,000 tons of salt on the New York State Thruway in 2009. For snow removal were about 31,000, for the maintenance of roads and bridges needed almost 59,000 man-days.
Security
For the safety and monitoring of traffic rules on the New York State Thruway and on the canals of New York State Canal Corporation, the New York State Police ( State Police Troop T ) is responsible. In the year 2009 195.000 violations on the Thruway and 1,400 were displayed on the canals, about 86,000 of them for speeding.
Finances
Revenue from the road and bridge tolls the NYSTA betrungen 634.1 million U.S. dollars in 2011. This was a decrease of $ 7.1 million compared to 2010, caused by the high price of gasoline, Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee. Other revenues, including those from concessions amounted to 33.4 million U.S. dollars. This 667.5 million in 2011 revenues were $ 759.6 million against expenditures. Approximately 8.5 million of expenditure was used for the repair of the damage caused by tropical storms. 13.4 million were paid in the year to contribute to the pensions of the early retirement program from the year 2010, in which about 10 percent of employees had left the NYSTA. In 2009, however, the NYSTA was able to record a surplus of about 34.5 million dollars.
A major cost factor for the NYSTA with constantly increasing demand is the entertainment of the Tappan Zee Bridge, which was completed in 1955, has already exceeded its planned lifetime, and much more traffic picks up as was then planned. In the in the last 20 years, about $ 700 million was spent on repairs and maintenance. In planning for the next 10 years is estimated at one billion U.S. dollars for it. There is, therefore, to replace the bridge with a new building plans.
Future
It is planned the New York State Thruway Authority to merge with the much smaller New York State Bridge Authority to save costs. The new authority should, so the plans are working under a new leadership, along with the New York State Department of Transportation. With this merger could be removed in about 450 to 600 of the approximately 12,900 jobs between the three authorities in the future.