new york state thruway

A New York State Thruway Authority (NYSTA) spokesman says that after an investigation of a sexual harassment complaint Donald R Bell, director of maintenance and operations was told to resign or face termination proceedings. He chose to resign.

For years environmental groups have opposed replacement of the New York State Thruway's Tappan Zee Bridge, threatening to delay it with a string of lawsuits. They said construction would wreak havoc with the delicate ecosystems of the Hudson estuary, and that if it had to be built it must incorporate a transit line in addition to the road lanes. The demand for a transit line loaded huge expense on the project no part of which would ever be funded by train fares.

2013-02-17: The New York State Thruway is converting two mainline and one side toll plaza to all electronic or cashless toll collection.

2012/12/09: An advisory panel of notables has recommended that the New York State Thruway go with Fluor over Bechtel and Kiewit in design-build bids for the new Tappan Zee Bridge (TZB), or New NY Bridge as it is now being styled. The Fluor price was by far the best at $3,142m, $848m less than Bechtel ($3,990m) and $917m less than Kiewit ($4,059m.) HNTB reportedly pulled out and did not make a formal proposal, although a picture of their design was released.

2012-08-21: A new Tappan Zee Bridge plan championed by the governor of New York State Andrew Cuomo got the unanimous approval of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Commission (NYMTC) in a special meeting Monday allowing the New York State Thruway Authority owner of the bridge to apply for a federally supported TIFIA loan. Immediately after the vote the state Governor emailed US sec-trans Ray LaHood urging his support for the project.

Tom Madison executive director of the New York State Thruway in a strong opinion piece in the New York Post takes on transit fanatics who threaten the state's plan to rebuild the Tappan Zee Bridge. Demands for Westchester-Rockland Co transit (east-west) he says "threaten to stall the project."

It has already, Madison writes, been "mired for more than a decade in a seemingly endless bureaucratic process, with more than 430 public meetings and some $88 million spent on studies."

A Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) study finds tolling of longer combination vehicles (LCVs) on a key link between the Chicago and Boston areas won't finance the project. The study finds that tolls on LCVs (mostly for long double trailer trucks) on a newly built truckway between the Ohio Turnpike near Cleveland and the western end of the New York State Thruway would not come close to being financially viable.

Michael Fleischer executive director of the New York State Thruway Authority has told local television in Albany NY he won't defend the way E-ZPass transponders have been provided free to state employees in the past. He told WNYT Channel 13 TV he inherited an arrangement under which some 8,000 E-ZPass accounts are set up to provide free rides to state employees, including some retirees getting them for life.

New York State Thruway Authority is negotiating details of a contract for a new violations system with Traffic Technologies Inc, we hear.

But nothing yet from either of the two parties.

The project was described here:

http://www.tollroadsnews.com/node/4397

TOLLROADSnews 2010-01-13

The New York State Thruway Authority will be hiring consultants soon to study the costs and benefits of different toll collection modes including all-electronic tolling (AET), also known as cashless. The announcement was made not in any board decision, or in a press release, or in any presentation to an IBTTA conference, and there's no RFP yet. But a reader pointed out to us a pair of postings that have just popped up on the NYSTA website.