New York state officials on Monday dropped their proposal for a 45 percent increase on the state Thruway toll for trucks, while advancing a a $3.14 billion project to replace the Tappan Zee bridge.

The proposal endorsed by New York State Transportation Commissioner Thomas Madison on Monday, and expected to be formally adopted by the Thruway board, is the least expensive with the fastest construction schedule of the three bids that were accepted, although the $5 toll is still expected to nearly triple. The Madison-endorsed bid also dredges the least from the Hudson River.

“In just about one year, the bridge went from articulating a vision to getting close to putting a shovel in the ground,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.

According to a release, the bridge designs would take between five and six years to complete.

The other projects were priced at $3.99 billion and nearly $4.06 billion. The final cost will be higher because of management costs, contingencies and other costs which would have been equal under any of the proposals, Madison said.

The state is waiting on a decision from the federal government on a request for a loan that could cover $2.9 billion of the cost. The Obama administration rejected New York’s application a year ago, but invited the state to reapply. That was viewed as a positive sign in Albany.

Cuomo praised the reversal on the toll proposal made in May by the Thruway Authority headed by Cuomo’s appointees. Cuomo had distances himself in news conferences from the decision, saying it had to be a last resort while supporting the authority’s need to correct its finances.

Cuomo said Monday that no Thruway toll increase is expected to be part of the authority’s fiscal plans covering the next three years.

Madison said the toll was avoided by cutting hundreds of millions of dollars in expenses, passing some of it along to the state budget directly funded by taxpayers. That includes $60 million a year the Thruway had paid from its tolls since 1954 to pay for state police Troop T, which patrols the statewide highway. The patrols won’t change.

The New York State Motor Truck Association said the toll increase would have hit all New Yorkers.

“The hike would have devastated the entire state’s economy and nullified any attempts by the governor and the legislature to make New York `open for business,’” said Kendra Hems of the association.

(AP)