Last week, the MTA announced that it would remove the toll barriers on the Brooklyn-bound side of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. The toll booths have not been used for two decades, since the removal of the Brooklyn-bound toll in 1986. At the announcement, MTA Executive Director Elliot Sander told the Staten Island Advance that high-speed tolling, and eliminating the 5-mile-per-hour speed restriction, would be considered for the toll plaza’s redesign, which he called a “blank slate.”
The press release stated that a new westbound toll plaza would be included in the next MTA capital program, which will be released by the agency by March 31. “Removing these unused eastbound booths and re-engineering the roadway for normal speed is a major feature of a modernization package that will ultimately produce a more efficient and safer travel corridor,” Sander said.
Last week’s announcement was one of the first public indications that the MTA is working to upgrade its toll facilities with high-speed tolling. Advocates who have been calling for such changes are pleased.
This news is encouraging but doesn’t go far enough. Provision should be made in the redesign for the eventual restoration of two-way tolling, including two-way travel-speed tolling. Two-way tolling on the VNB would be an important component of congestion mitigation in Staten Island and Brooklyn.
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Perhaps the plaza area on the Brooklyn-bound side could be transformed with NYPD cooperation into a pull-over area for bus/HOV lane enforcement.
Any mention of two-way tolling would just bring out the rabid Staten Island politicians. If the MTA is thinking about it, they’re probably waiting until after the high-speed tolls are built so they can show that two-way tolling wouldn’t cause traffic backups.