Queens residents will no longer need to pay the toll on the Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge in Southeast Queens, a major win for locals in the area who often use the bridge to commute and have long complained about the toll’s cost.
Beginning in 2024, residents of Queens who use E-Zpass will get a 100 percent rebate when crossing the bridge, which connects the Rockaway peninsula to Broad Channel and mainland Queens.
The funding comes through a 2018 program called the Outer Borough Transportation Account – which provided additional resources for outer borough transportation improvements – and was heavily pushed by local officials.
“Promises made, promises kept,” said Assemblymember Stacey Pheffer Amato, who has been trying to get the toll changed for locals since she was elected. “After years of hard work and perseverance, my constituents from Lindenwood, Howard Beach, Hamilton Beach and Ozone Park will no longer be penalized. Through the legislation I passed with Senator Addabbo, Queens residents who utilize the New York E-Zpass program and register for the program will get full access to their entire borough, especially the Rockaway Peninsula.”
Crossing the bridge, which gets drivers and pedestrians across Jamaica Bay, is a necessity for some Rockaway locals who need it to get to work in other parts of Queens, Long Island or other parts of the city via the Belt Parkway.
“Finally, the MTA and the governor have listened and are implementing the removal of a barrier to secure economic opportunities for everyone in Queens,” Pheffer Amato said.
Pheffer Amato says that there is a long history of fighting against the toll, one she is happy to bring across the finish line.
“This was always an issue in the community, this unjustified toll,” she said over the phone to the Eagle. “Someone who works at a public school paid an extra over $25 a week to get to their jobs in Queens, through Queens, less than five miles from their home. That to me was the most inequitable part of the toll bridge.”
She said that it took work to figure out the budgeting and the economics, which ultimately led to the usage of the Outer Borough Transportation Account to pick up the tab.
Pheffer Amato’s legislative colleague State Senator Joseph Addabbo called the toll “unfair.”
“This reversal is a monumental victory and an effort that elected officials and residents have been striving to accomplish for decades,” he said. “This achievement will rebate residents for the only intra-borough toll in the city, assist the economic growth and enjoyment of the Rockaway peninsula.”
14 comments:
Pandering to car totalitarians as usual.
Good News !
It's free now for paper and covered plates.
Finally some good news
What would a colonizer would say about these tolls ?
Colonial subjects were forced to pay excise taxes to the King...
Good news for some but not a big Big deal.
Up next in 2024 are massive Budget cuts, large Tax hikes, Layoffs and large energy rate increases. That's next sheeple. People are recognizing this truth with common sense and are moving out of New York in record numbers while being replaced with illegal migrants.
That’s it. I’m packing my bag’s and moving to the great state of Colorado.
Crappy is on vacations 300 days a year!
#1 is a troll who spreads lies and hate.
@"Crappy is on vacations 300 days a year!"
Are you paying for the vacation days?
@"Colonial subjects were forced to pay excise taxes to the King..."
We go to pay extra taxes to cover Israel's free healthcare, free housing, and free college. The 51st state is more important than the 11th state.
That's nice for the drivers but bicyclists still have to walk their bikes over the bridge. At least that's what the signs say, although I've never done it or seen anyone else do it. You'd think they would have made a bike lane when they redid the bridge.
I heard leftists want to make everything electric...
Let's start with the border wall!
There goes the neighborhood.
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