Facing Reality

The following is an opinion piece by Building Congress President Richard T. Anderson on the City’s need to face transportation realities and make difficult choices about new sources of revenue.

One of the undeniable realities facing New York City is the need to renew and improve essential transportation infrastructure. But money for transportation improvements in New York City – and many other needed investments – is scarce. Policies that raise money from those who use services or facilities most – ‘user fees’ – make the most sense in lean times.

It takes courageous leadership to espouse historically unpopular ideas for raising additional funding for transportation. Recently, both Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Gifford Miller have spoken to the need for new sources of revenue – via tolls on East River crossings and reinstatement of the commuter tax, respectively. These practical financial solutions, when taken together, ensure that sacrifice is shared equitably and that those who benefit most from our transportation network pay appropriately. Both City leaders are on the right track and deserve the widest possible support.

While there is no lack of innovative ideas to enhance the region’s transportation network, the proposals will only be viable if accompanied by an acceptance of the need to finance the bulk of such improvements with local dollars. During troubled economic times, it is imperative that
residents, commuters and businesses alike be asked to pay their fair share of transportation costs.

The rationale behind reinstating the commuter tax, which was repealed in 1999, is readily apparent. It would pump up to $500 million annually into the City treasury by levying a small charge on tri-state residents who work in New York City. It makes good sense for those who spend a large amount of time here to help pay for essential City services. Most telling about the tax is the lack of a constituency to abolish it prior to 1999.

The second and more politically difficult solution is to institute tolls on all East River bridges and tunnels. By implementing what are actually user fees on previously free crossings, New York City would be securing a steady and reliable revenue stream to help fund capital projects designed, not merely to maintain our current system, but to increase capacity where it is needed most. The New York City Department of Transportation once estimated that tolling the East River bridges could generate $800 million a year, which in turn could finance approximately $8 billion in construction.

Such revenues could help fund a host of important projects – both proposed and underway – that would help solve New York City’s traffic congestion and commuter access problems. These include: LIRR access to Grand Central; a Second Avenue subway; mass transit access to both airports; reconstruction of the Gowanus Expressway; construction of a rail freight tunnel to serve Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island; and several other improvements that would directly benefit City residents who would pay the tolls.

When it comes to East River user fees, however, the benefits to the City do not stop with increased revenue. The introduction of tolls would certainly make subway and Long Island Rail Road facilities more attractive to commuters, thus cutting travel time for commercial traffic and easing traffic burdens on neighborhoods such as Long Island City, Williamsburg and the Canal Street area.

Additional gridlock could be averted through the implementation of congestion pricing on all New York City bridges and tunnels as well