For Thruway, a rocky road

…But as motorists continue to ease up on the gas pedal, taking shorter and fewer trips than had been expected on the state’s 524-mile toll road system, revenue is expected to come up short. Looking ahead over the next five years, the authority sees potential annual budget gaps of $75 million to $90 million.

Fleischer said the trend on the Thruway mirrors what’s happening on toll roads around the country as motorists finally seem to be adopting a pattern of driving less because of high fuel prices.


Travel on U.S. roads this year through June declined by just under one-half percent from the same period last year, according to the Federal Highway Administration. On the Thruway, miles traveled declined last year, and in 2005 for the first time since 1991.

Thruway toll hikes enacted in May 2005 as part of a plan to fund a $2.6 billion capital improvement program, plus an increase on cash tolls next year, were expected to provide enough money to balance budgets for the next five years.

But the authority crafted those estimates expecting some 2.3 percent growth in trips each year. Now, the authority’s traffic analysts from Stantec Consulting Services have revised their traffic and revenue projections. They predict growth of just 1.2 percent next year, 1.5 percent in 2009 and 2.2 percent in 2010 and 2011.

While rising gas prices didn’t come as a total surprise and the Thruway has weathered increases before without jarring impact to revenue, motorists are reacting with more sustained changes in travel behavior this time around.

“It’s been about a 2-year period with no growth patterns,” said Fleischer. “This is the longest period with no growth patterns since statistics were first reported by the Federal Highway Administration in 1981.”

Albany Times-Union