The New York State Thruway Authority (NYSTA) is a public benefit corporation in

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

, United States. The NYSTA was formed in 1950 with the responsibility of constructing, maintaining, and operating the New York State Thruway, a system of

limited-access highways A limited-access road, known by various terms worldwide, including limited-access highway, dual-carriageway, expressway, limited access freeway, and partial controlled access highway, is a highway or arterial road for high-speed traffic which ...

within the state.

Organization

In August 2017, Matthew J. Driscoll was appointed by Governor

Andrew Cuomo Andrew Mark Cuomo ( ; ; born December 6, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position that his father, Mario Cu ...

as the Acting Executive Director of the New York State Thruway Authority. The executive officers report to a 6-member board of directors. In 2017, the authority had operating expenses of $872.17 million, an outstanding debt of $8.827 billion, and a staffing level of 3,754 people. The authority operates without financial assistance from the state of New York. All debt is paid for through tolls and fees.

History

Formation

A toll superhighway connecting the major cities of the state of New York that would become part of a larger nationwide highway network was proposed as early as 1949. Construction was initially administered by the state Department of Public Works, however in the following year, the

New York State Legislature The New York State Legislature consists of the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York: The New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. The Constitution of New York does not designate an official ...

passed the Thruway Authority Act creating the New York State Thruway Authority, an independent

public corporation A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange (l ...

, which would build and manage the Thruway. The project was to be financed through

toll revenue bond A toll revenue bond is a financial promissory note usually issued to generate funds for the construction and/or operation of a public accommodation such as an Controlled-access highway, expressway, bridge, or tunnel. Funds for the repayment are obt ...

s and self-liquidating by receipt of tolls, rents, concessions, and other income. The act also stipulated NYSTA adopt a hybrid system of tolls, with barrier tolls collected in urban areas, and long-distance tickets issued in rural areas.

System expansion

After the

New Jersey Turnpike The New Jersey Turnpike (NJTP) is a system of controlled-access highways in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The turnpike is maintained by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA).The Garden State Parkway, although maintained by NJTA, is not consi ...

was built in 1952, the New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA) and NYSTA proposed a extension of the New Jersey Turnpike that would go from its end (at US 46 in

Ridgefield Park, New Jersey Ridgefield Park is a village in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the village's population was 12,729,West Nyack at the Thruway. The portion through New Jersey was to be constructed and maintained by NJTA, while the portion in New York was to be built and maintained by NYSTA. The purpose of this extension was to give motorists a "more direct bypass of the New York City area" to

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

by using the Tappan Zee Bridge. The extension was to parallel

NY 303 New York State Route 303 (NY 303) is a north–south state highway in eastern Rockland County, New York, in the United States. It begins at the New Jersey state line in the hamlet of Tappan and runs generally northward for to an interse ...

and the

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busin ...

-owned River Line, and have limited interchanges, one of which would be with the

Palisades Interstate Parkway The Palisades Interstate Parkway (PIP) is a limited-access highway in the U.S. states of New Jersey and New York (state), New York. The parkway is a major commuter route into New York City from Rockland County, New York, Rockland and Orange County ...

. By 1970, it became too expensive to buy right-of-way access, and community opposition was fierce. Therefore, both the NJTA and NYSTA cancelled the project. In 1990, the state of New York sold the Cross-Westchester Expressway (part of I-287) to NYSTA for $20 million (equivalent to $ in ) in an effort to balance the state's budget. Similarly, in 1991, the Authority was directed to assume the cost of operating and maintaining the segment of I-84 in New York, which runs east–west from the Pennsylvania state line at

Port Jervis Port Jervis is a city located at the confluence of the Neversink and Delaware rivers in western Orange County, New York, United States, north of the Delaware Water Gap. Its population was 8,775 at the 2020 census. The communities of Deerpark, ...

to the Connecticut state line at Brewster. The agreement made at this time between NYSTA and the

New York State Department of Transportation The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) is the department of the New York state government responsible for the development and operation of highways, railroads, mass transit systems, ports, waterways and aviation facilities in ...

(NYSDOT) allowed NYSTA to transfer I-84 back to the state at any point after 1996 provided that the Thruway Authority gave NYSDOT a one-year notice. Around this time, state officials also investigated the possibility of having NYSTA take over ownership and maintenance of all or part of New York's

Interstate Highway The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. Th ...

Toll elimination and I-84

Roughly one week before the November 2006 elections, NYSTA accepted $14 million from the

State Senate A state legislature in the United States is the legislative body of any of the 50 U.S. states. The formal name varies from state to state. In 27 states, the legislature is simply called the ''Legislature'' or the ''State Legislature'', whil ...

in exchange for agreeing to cease the collection of tolls at the Black Rock and City Line toll barriers on the Niagara Thruway (I-190) in Buffalo for one year. On October 30, 2006, NYSTA voted to permanently remove the tolls. Both major candidates in the 2006 gubernatorial election, Democrat and eventual victor

Eliot Spitzer Eliot Laurence Spitzer (born June 10, 1959) is an American politician and attorney. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he was the 54th governor of New York from 2007 until his resignation in 2008. Spitzer was b ...

and Republican

John Faso John James Faso Jr. (born August 25, 1952) is an American attorney and politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2017 to 2019. Faso was first elected to the post in 2016. A Republican, Faso previously represented the 102nd dis ...

, had pledged to remove the tolls on I-190 if elected. In order to offset the lost toll revenue, NYSTA also voted to return maintenance of I-84 to NYSDOT, as the annual maintenance cost of I-84 was considered to be equal to the amount of annual revenue generated from the Buffalo toll barriers—approximately $14 million. Under the terms of the 1991 agreement between NYSTA and NYSDOT, maintenance of I-84 would become the responsibility of the DOT on October 30, 2007. In January 2007, State Senator

John Bonacic John J. Bonacic (born June 14, 1942 in New York City) is a retired politician from New York. A Republican, Bonacic represented New York State Senate District 42 (which includes all or parts of Delaware, Sullivan, Orange, and Ulster Counties) ...

of Mount Hope began drafting legislation to halt the planned transfer of maintenance of I-84. Bonacic asserted that the Thruway Authority had better maintenance practices than NYSDOT, most notably in the field of snow removal. He also claimed that the DOT lacked the time and money needed to match the quality of maintenance that NYSTA performed on I-84. The senator eventually prevailed as the 2007–2008 budget was modified to allocate additional funding to NYSDOT, which would then pay the Thruway Authority to maintain I-84. A formal agreement between the two agencies was reached on September 19. The one-year agreement cost NYSDOT $11.5 million and took effect October 30, the date I-84 was to become DOT-maintained. The agreement was renewed in April 2008 at a cost of $10.3 million, extending the arrangement through October 31, 2009. It remained in place until October 11, 2010, when NYSDOT re-assumed maintenance of the highway. The change was made in the 2010–2011 state budget in an effort to reduce the cost of maintaining I-84. Governor

David Paterson David Alexander Paterson (born May 20, 1954) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 55th governor of New York, succeeding Eliot Spitzer and serving out nearly three years of Spitzer's term from March 2008 to December 2010. A ...

—who included the change in the budget—expected that the state would save $3.9 million annually on maintenance costs.

Canal maintenance

The NYSTA owned the

New York State Canal Corporation New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

from 1992 until 2017. Ownership was subsequently transferred to the

New York Power Authority The New York Power Authority (NYPA), officially the Power Authority of the State of New York, is a New York State public-benefit corporation. It is the largest state public power utility in the United States. NYPA provides some of the lowest-co ...

Highway advisory radio

NYSTA also operates the Thruway Authority

Highway Advisory Radio A travelers' information station (TIS), also called highway advisory radio (HAR) by the United States Department of Transportation, is a licensed low-powered non-commercial radio station, used to broadcast information to the general public, inclu ...

(HAR) system, a network of radio stations across the state that broadcast information on traffic conditions along the Thruway. The system broadcasts at 1610 AM in the Newburgh, Kingston, Albany, and

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

areas, 1620 AM in the Herkimer,

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...

LaFayette Lafayette or La Fayette may refer to: People * Lafayette (name), a list of people with the surname Lafayette or La Fayette or the given name Lafayette * House of La Fayette, a French noble family ** Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757� ...

, Syracuse, and

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

/ Waterloo areas, 530 AM in the New York City Region/

Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Corridor, and at 1630 AM in the Buffalo, Ripley, and Dunkirk areas. HAR is also used to broadcast

Amber Alert An Amber Alert (alternatively styled AMBER alert) or a child abduction emergency alert ( SAME code: CAE) is a message distributed by a child abduction alert system to ask the public for help in finding abducted children. The system originated in ...

s if one is issued.

References

External links

New York State Thruway Authority
{{Authority control Public benefit corporations in New York (state) Toll road authorities of the United States Government agencies established in 1950