NY business leaders rally against adding tolls to East River bridges

New York State Sen. Tony Avella, Assembly Member David Weprin, the Queens Civic Congress and other business leaders last week rallied against the proposal to add tolls on all the East River bridges.

The plan, which was unveiled by the Move NY transportation plan committee last month, proposed adding tolls on the bridges as a way to receive funding for other New York state transportation infrastructure improvements and additions.

Members of the Small Business Congress of New York City and the Queens Chamber of Commerce argued that the bridges, which include the Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Ed Koch Queensboro bridges, are used every day by middle-class and low-income families who commute to work and school, and the added tolls put an extra, unnecessary burden on them.

“In a district like mine, where public transportation is hard to come by, residents rely on their vehicles to get around the city every day, Avella said. "This often means crossing any of the bridges in and out of Queens and Brooklyn, including the ones over the East River. Adding tolls to these only remaining free routes does a serious injustice to the thousands of commuters who drive across these bridges.” 

Avella previously introduced legislation carried in the Assembly that would ban the implementation of tolls on any East River crossings, whether vehicular or pedestrian.