'Gridlock Sam' Schwartz: NYC's toll structure is screwed up, and Staten Island suffers

[N6 Limited]

http://www.silive.com/opinion/columns/index.ssf/2014/07/fixing_transportation_in_nyc_w.html

[peacemak3r]

In before some people's answer to this is to take the express buses and stop whining.

 

It's true though, it's ridiculous that SI residents pay that enormous toll (with or without discount) and almost everything goes to rail/subway.

[N6 Limited]

In before some people's answer to this is to take the express buses and stop whining.

 

It's true though, it's ridiculous that SI residents pay that enormous toll (with or without discount) and almost everything goes to rail/subway.

Wouldn't it have made sense to use surplus VZB tolls to connect the 4th Ave line to Staten Island all these years?

[traingoat]

The reason now is the same reason they never built it initially and that was cost. The bridge was built to move freight to New England without going thru Manhattan. The ferry was there for the commuters. Go back 50 years or more and the expressways in SI were built but not used. All truck traffic had to go thru the two tunnels or GWB to get to 95 for points North. Why was the Throgs Neck bridge built for the same reason as a conduit to 95 as for practical purposes it terminates there. CrossBronx can't handle the traffic as it was underbuilt and needed 12 lanes from the get go across the entirety of the Bronx.

[N6 Limited]

The Purpose of the Cross Bronx Expressway was to connect the Whitestone Bridge to the George Washington Bridge. The Throgs Neck Br was built to relieve traffic on the Whitestone Br.