Harriman, NY – By summer, the Woodbury Toll Barrier, one of the busiest on the Thruway, will finally have what drivers have prayed for, for years … the ability to pass through without slowing down.
The Thruway Authority announced that beginning next Monday, they will go into an eight-week final construction phase that will include removal of the five middle toll gates. In their place will go the four highway-speed lanes for drivers with E-ZPass. The lanes will be resurfaced for several hundred feet on either side of the plaza
There will be little impact immediately, because for some time now, for most of the day except drive times, only two lanes in each direction have been available, anyway.
During a preview of the project, Monday, Thruway Authority engineers said there may be some minor inconvenience because there will be a reduction in available lanes, even during peak times. That will result in possibly noticeable northbound backups, especially Friday afternoon and evening.
Assistant Division Engineer Herbert Litts, said the ultimate goal is to end the backups, that on holiday weekends, can reach ten miles or more.
“Now that we have such a high percentage of E-ZPass penetration, we believe that the timing is right where we can put highway speed E-ZPass through the Woodbury Toll Plaza, especially southbound during the weekend, we should be able to mitigate most of that backup, in that those people will be able to travel through the plaza at highway speed,” he said.
That will apply to all E-ZPass vehicles, including commercial.
They picked this time of year to do the final work because this typically is when traffic is the lightest.
Target date for completion of this phase of the $90 million project is May 2.
(Source: http://www.midhudsonnews.com/)
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One Response
u wrote “They picked this time of year to do the final work because this typically is when traffic is the lightest.”
they don’t care abt when traffic is lighter, they always START construction during the summer!
No construction takes place on RT-42 during the winter, they wait until all the jews come up for the summer and then start construction!