File photo State workers are shown here in 2021 dismantling a toll booth at the Westfield exit of the New York State Thruway.

Forty years ago, when the New York state Thruway was in its third decade of use, there was a belief among motorists that paying a toll to drive on Interstate 90 was temporary. At that time, U.S. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan hailed an agreement by representatives of the Federal Highway Trust and state officials for funding assistance to maintain the highway.

A portion of that deal ultimately called for the elimination of tolls and the abolishment of the Thruway Authority in 1996. “New York’s dream of a toll-free state Thruway will at long last come true,” said Moynihan, who introduced the bill in Congress to make the agreement possible, according to an archived New York Times article from July 20, 1982.

Reality is starkly different today. Though the booths came down over the last two years, the tolls remain — and will become more expensive starting in January.

Earlier this month, the Thruway Authority held one of its numerous public hearings across the state in Cheektowaga regarding the rate hikes. Attendance was sparse with opposition noted from members of the public as well as one individual voicing support.

Frank Hoare, interim director for the Thruway Authority, also was in attendance. He noted — unlike in the early 1980s — the Thruway Authority does not receive federal, state, or local tax dollars to cover the costs of operating and maintaining the road.

“Our entire super-highway system is funded by the people who use it, in other words, through tolls,” he said.

For the New York E-ZPass user, rates on the Thruway mainline are expected to increase 5% in 2024 to 4.7 cents per mile, and then by another 5% in 2027 to reach 4.9 cents per mile. Tolls on commercial drivers will increase proportionally to increases applied to passenger drivers.

“To put the toll adjustment proposal into perspective, if approved, the cost of traveling the Thruway’s Erie Section — Lackawanna to the Pennsylvania border — would increase only 30 cents over four years; from $2.97 currently to $3.12 in 2024, and $3.27 in 2027,” Hoare wrote in a recent letter to The Buffalo News. “East of Buffalo, Williamsville (exit 50) to LeRoy (exit 47) would only increase 19 cents per trip over four years from $1.87 currently to $2.06 in 2027. A cup of coffee has increased more in just the last year alone.”

Those costs will increase even more for those who are not tied to the current electronic system. Per-mile rates on the Thruway mainline would grow by 60 percent for non-NY E-ZPass holders and 41 percent for tolls by mail payers next year.

In a report issued in February, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli cited flaws with the proposed increases. “The Thruway Authority’s toll increase proposal comes at a time of extraordinary challenges for New Yorkers who are faced with rising costs for everything from food to shelter to gas,” he said. “The Thruway should be more transparent with the public and disclose critical information, and identify and put in place all possible cost-savings and alternative revenue actions to minimize costs to drivers. Raising tolls should be the last option, and the Thruway has more work to do.”

DiNapoli’s 36-page assessment on the Thruway’s proposal notes some of the revenue problems for the authority come from cashless tolling issues — that have not produced cost savings or efficiencies while users face problems of erroneous bills and significant fines and penalties — as well as the COVID-19. In 2020, due to the pandemic that forced an economic slowdown, revenues were down 16.6%.

To the Authority’s credit, expenses — particularly those in terms of employee costs — have decreased. But keeping the highly traveled interstate — about 250 million vehicles per year — has growing costs. It comes from the snowplowing, construction and routine maintenance.

It is far from alone in its fiscal troubles when it comes to managing its roads. Pennsylvania’s Turnpike increased rates by 5% in January that were already more expensive than Thruway users pay.

A 2022 audit found the Turnpike authority had $104 million in uncollected tolls for 2020 and 2021 while its cost per mile to drive is about 16 cents — three times more than the cost on New York’s Interstate 90. Its debt also was reported to be $13.2 billion.

Pennsylvania’s pain in no way takes the sting away from the looming January increases on the Thruway. Those, according to Moynihan, were supposed to be in the rear-view mirror by now.

John D’Agostino is the editor of The Post-Journal, OBSERVER and Times Observer in Warren, Pa. Send comments to jdagostino@observertoday.com or call 716-487-1111, ext. 253.