Contact Information

http://www.nysthruway.gov
http://www.nyscanals.gov
http://www.tzbsite.com
http://www.e-zpassny.com

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Introduction

The New York State Thruway Authority maintains 641 miles of roadway. This includes the 496-mile long Governor Thomas E. Dewey Thruway, the longest toll superhighway system in the United States . With the construction of the Thruway, Governor Dewey’s vision of a cross-State highway became a reality. This mainline provides the 426-mile connection between the State’s two largest cities, New York City and Buffalo , before extending westward to the Pennsylvania State line at Ripley.

Additional Thruway sections directly connect with the Connecticut and Massachusetts Turnpikes, New Jersey's Garden State Parkway and other major expressways that lead to New England, Canada, the Midwest and the South. Approximately 75 percent - or 46 of New York State's 62 counties - as well as the 13 largest cities in the State are located within the Thruway corridor. The corridor contains more than 80 percent of the State's population and registered motor vehicles.

The Thruway is operated by the New York State Thruway Authority, an independent public corporation created in 1950 by the New York State Legislature. The Authority was established to build, operate and maintain the system as a self-liquidating project financed through bonds being retired from proceeds of tolls and other income. No State tax dollars are used to operate and maintain the Thruway System; it is a user fee supported highway.

The Thruway Authority Act of 1950 provided geographical names for each of the Thruway’s sections. These include Southern Westchester, Hudson, Catskill, Mohawk, Ontario, Erie, Berkshire, New England and Niagara. Subsequent legislation named these sections for old Native American trails: the Iroquois Trail (between New York City and Buffalo), the Erie Path (between Buffalo and the Pennsylvania border), the Mohican Path (the New England Section in Bronx and Westchester Counties), the Algonquin Path (the Berkshire Section in Albany, Rensselaer and Columbia Counties) and the Tuscarora Path (the Niagara Section in Erie and Niagara Counties).

In 1964, the New York State Legislature mandated that the Thruway System be named “The Governor Thomas E. Dewey Thruway,” recognizing the former Governor’s vision and leadership in sponsoring the creation of the cross-state superhighway.

The Thruway has been designated a part of the national network of Blue Star Memorial Highways honoring members of the U.S. Armed Forces who served in both World Wars. It is also part of the 43,000-mile network designated by Congress in 1990 as the “Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways.”

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*Maintained by the Authority, under contract with DOT

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Design Criteria

• The Thruway is generally a four-lane express highway with two lanes for traffic in either direction, separated by a wide median that ranges up to 1,025 feet in width. Six lanes are available in several higher-traffic regions, as are eight lanes.
• To the right of all highway areas is a stabilized shoulder on which vehicles, including the heaviest trucks, may be parked in the case of a breakdown or other emergency.
• There are no intersections at grade, no sharp curves and no steep hills on the Thruway.
• There are acceleration and deceleration lanes, generally 1,200 feet long, at all interchanges, Travel Plazas and parking areas.
• Sight distance of at least 1,000 feet is provided to eliminate any blind spots for fast-traveling motorists.
• Signs and/or advertising devices may not be posted or maintained within 660 feet of the nearest edge of the right-of-way, except with specific permission from the Thruway Authority.

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Expressway Connections

The Thruway is a key segment in the vast expressway network in the Northeast. The Thruway connects with:

• The Major Deegan Expressway at the New York City line, giving direct access south to midtown New York City.
• The Connecticut Turnpike at the terminus of the Thruway's New England Section (I-95) in Port Chester.
• The Massachusetts Turnpike at the terminus of the Thruway's Berkshire Section (I-90) in the Town of Canaan.
• Interstate 90, which heads west across the United States.
• New Jersey’s Garden State Parkway at the New Jersey- New York line in Chestnut Ridge, Rockland County.
• Interstate 287, near Suffern in northern Rockland County, connecting with major highways in New Jersey.
• The Adirondack Northway, the northernmost segment of Interstate 87, which extends from Albany north to the Canadian border.
• Interstate 81, which extends from the Pennsylvania line near Binghamton north through Syracuse to the St. Lawrence River and Canada near Alexandria Bay.
• Interstate 88, near Schenectady on the Thruway, extends to Binghamton.

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Construction Cost

The Thruway cost about $1 billion to build. Costs were relatively low through upstate farmland and higher in heavily populated areas. The cost per mile from New York City to the Pennsylvania line was $1,547,000; with the exception of the 15-mile New England Section, which cost an average of $6,210,000 per mile; and the 21-mile Niagara Section, which cost an average of $5,738,000 per mile.

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Travel Plazas

The Thruway’s 27 Travel Plazas, many of them award-winning facilities, offer a variety of restaurants and other services designed to serve Thruway visitors for years to come.

The Travel Plazas are fun and memorable places to stop, with buildings reflecting New York State architecture such as Adirondack lodges, Shaker meeting halls and Hudson River Valley train stations. The Thruway Travel Plazas offer a wide variety of food as well as competitive fuel prices. In addition, Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) are available, as are play areas for children, tourist information centers and kiosks, gift shops, Internet connections, travel safety information, and up-to-date weather and traffic conditions.

Many of the Travel Plazas offer family assist restrooms, allowing people with special needs to get help from a traveling companion in total privacy. As Travel Plazas are renovated and/or rebuilt, they are made fully accessible to travelers with special needs. Also, parents will find diaper changing areas in both men’s and women’s restrooms.

Travel Plazas are strategically located about every 30 to 40 miles along the Thruway. All gasoline stations at Thruway Travel Plazas have self-service islands. Upon request, people with disabilities may receive full-service assistance at self-service pumps at self-serve prices. View a list of Travel Plaza Locations and Gasoline Stations.

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Tourism Information Centers

Staffed tourism information centers are located at several Travel Plazas and interchanges along the Thruway System. At these centers, Thruway travelers may obtain literature about destinations and attractions in New York State, Thruway maps and directional assistance. Some information centers operate all year; others are seasonal. All information centers at Travel Plazas operate daily from May 1 to October 31, some longer. Highway signs showing "?" and/or "Tourist Info" legends are posted along the Thruway for information centers that are open eight hours a day, seven days a week at Travel Plazas, interchanges or within one mile of a Thruway interchange. View a list of Travel Plaza Tourism Information Centers.

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Traffic Regulations and Emergency Service

• Posted speed limits are enforced by State Police Troop T, whose members patrol the Thruway exclusively.
• U-turns are prohibited, except when authorized by State Police or Thruway personnel.
• Do not park in driving lanes, on or under bridges, or in the center median.
• Do not pick up hitchhikers. Both hitchhikers and motorists picking them up are subject to arrest, as New York State law prohibits hitchhiking.
• Pedestrians, bicycles, motor scooters, ATVs, horse-drawn vehicles, snowmobiles and mopeds are all prohibited on the Thruway.
• Keep right except for passing and signal before changing lanes.
• Trucks, buses and vehicles hauling trailers are barred from the left lane on three-lane sections.
• Trucks traveling less than 40 miles per hour must use their flashing lights to warn other vehicles of their slower speed.
• New York State law requires seat belt use and that headlights be turned on when windshield wipers are used.
• Do not stop in the travel lanes with a disabled vehicle. Move well off the roadway, or to the next exit or other safe location. New York State law permits motorists to move vehicles to a safe spot following an accident or breakdown. For your own safety, stay with your vehicle until help arrives. It is illegal to walk along the Thruway.
• For the safety of all Thruway travelers, only authorized Thruway contract garages are allowed to service disabled vehicles on the Thruway. Minor repairs include tire changes, battery boosts, and supplying fuel, oil, water and/or anti-freeze. Thruway fuel stations no longer offer this roadside service.
• Authorized off-Thruway garages handle towing and major repairs that cannot be done along the Thruway. They also provide both roadside and major repairs on the Niagara, New England, I-84 and I-287 sections.
• A standard roadside service charge prevails 24 hours a day on the Thruway. Labor and materials are additional. These rates are comparable to off-Thruway rates.
• Towing charges by authorized garages for towing are based on initial hook-up and subsequent miles towed and are competitive with off-Thruway prices.

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Road Condition Reports

Thruway road condition reports are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week by calling toll-free 1-800-THRUWAY (1-800-847-8929). Reports are updated as conditions change along the 641-mile superhighway.

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Rest Areas/Park and Ride Lots

There are 15 conveniently spaced parking areas along the Thruway System where travelers are invited to stop and rest during their trips. All of these areas have public telephones. Rest room facilities are no longer available at the rest areas, with the exception of the four comfort stations on I-84.

The Thruway Authority does offer several commuter Park and Ride lots across the System. Parking at these commuter lots is posted for a maximum stay of 16 hours, and there are no overnight/long-term parking facilities on the System.

For a complete listing of Park and Ride lots, please visit our traveler's section.

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Toll Information

Passenger car tolls are approximately 4.27 cents per mile for travel on the Thruway’s mainline (between Woodbury in Orange County and Williamsville, near Buffalo, and on the Erie and Berkshire sections). Truck tolls, based on vehicle height over 7'6" and axle count, range from 14.55 cents per mile to 21.68 cents per mile for tractor-trailers and to 32.08 cents per mile for tandem units.  Vehicle using E-ZPass receive at discount from the cash rates.

Outside the controlled or ticket system, fixed tolls are collected at barriers across the Thruway. The controlled system is from Exit 15 to 50 and from Exit 55 to 61. On the Tappan Zee Bridge , passenger cars pay a $4.50 round-trip toll when traveling southbound and no toll is collected northbound. On the New England Section, eastbound motorists pay a $1.50 toll at the New Rochelle Barrier and no toll is collected westbound.

The passenger-car rates at other fixed toll barriers are: $1.00 at Yonkers, $1.00 at Harriman, $1.00 at the Grand Island bridges (the toll is paid only when going onto the Island). Truck and bus fees are higher.

An $80 annual permit for use on the ticketed portion of the Thruway is available through E-ZPass for a passenger car, motorcycle, or van with two axles and four tires. The permit plan is also available for vehicles displaying U.S. government license plates that meet the same vehicle classification. The permit includes the first 30 miles per trip, with the exception of a 55-cent surcharge for the Castleton-on-Hudson Bridge on the Berkshire Section. Trips taken for more than the 30-mile limit, a full-fare toll is charged beyond the first 30 miles, with a minimum per trip charge of 15 cents.

Tolls along the Thruway can be calculated using the On-Line Toll and Distance Calculator.

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Why Tolls?

The Thruway is strictly a user-supported System. Only those who travel the Thruway pay for it. The Thruway Authority receives no State tax dollars and is therefore dependent on toll revenues to operate, maintain and police its roads and nearly 1,000 bridges. These revenues also allow the Authority to provide a superior level of maintenance with its Snow-And-Ice Control Program.

Because tolls are a dedicated revenue source, the Authority is able to provide travelers with a safe, well-maintained and convenient transportation system with superior customer service. The Thruway is among the safest superhighways in the nation, with a fatality rate one-fifth the national average.

In 1991, an independent task force, following two years of public hearings, issued a recommendation that Thruway tolls remain. It was an issue of tolls versus taxes, with tolls perceived as being more equitable since tolls are direct user fees.

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E-ZPass

The New York State Thruway Authority pioneered the use of electronic toll collection in the Northeast when it introduced E-ZPass to travelers in 1993. Today, more than 61 percent of all Thruway travelers were using E-ZPass to pay their tolls.

The Thruway Authority is a founding member of the 12-state, 22 agency E-ZPass Interagency Group formed in 1990 with the intention of bringing a single-tag electronic toll collection system to New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Toll authorities in many neighboring states have since joined the group.

The E-ZPass system was designed as a traffic management tool to ease congestion and make travel more convenient. While all Toll Plaza lanes are equipped to accept E-ZPass, most plazas offer non-stop “E-ZPass Only” lanes, which eliminate the need to wait in line with cash-paying customers. Today, there are more than 2.2 million Thruway Authority E-ZPass tags in circulation.

With E-ZPass, tolls are either pre-paid or post-paid depending on the vehicle and account types. A tag mounted on the vehicle interacts with computers and the appropriate toll is calculated as the vehicle passes through the Toll Plaza. E-ZPass customers, passenger and commercial vehicles, receive a discount on Thruway tolls.

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State Police

The 325 members that make up State Police Troop T patrol the New York State Thruway System exclusively. Night and day, Troop T members do emergency work at the scene of accidents, summon help for thousands of motorists with disabled vehicles and make more than 150,000 arrests each year.

The entire annual cost for Troop T’s services is approximately $21.5 million per year and is borne by the Thruway Authority, which pays the Troopers’ salaries and expenses and provides them with patrol cars, uniforms and other necessary equipment.

Operating 180 patrol cars, the Troopers travel more than 8 million miles a year on Thruway assignments. State Police Troop T makes approximately 80,000 arrests each year on the Thruway for speeding. Radar teams, low-profile vehicles and aerial speed enforcement efforts supplement regular patrols.

A Thruway communications system provides instantaneous communication 24 hours a day among Thruway Headquarters, tollbooths, and the hundreds of vehicles operated by Troopers, administrators, maintenance and emergency service crews, and toll personnel.

All communications are centralized at Thruway Authority Headquarters in Albany. The communications center is staffed by shifts around the clock with a force of 28 civilian dispatchers, 9 senior dispatchers and 9 State Police technical sergeants. The Authority’s Communications Supervisor oversees technical operations.

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