Area served New York City Website Official website | Revenue US$ 437,200,000 (2010) Number of employees 1,545 | |
 | ||
Type Public benefit corporation Key people Donald Spero, President Headquarters New York City, New York, United States Founded 1933, New York, United States Parent organization Metropolitan Transportation Authority | ||
The Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, doing business as MTA Bridges and Tunnels, is an affiliate agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, that operates seven intrastate toll bridges and two tunnels in New York City. In terms of traffic volume, it is the largest bridge and tunnel toll agency in the United States serving more than a million people each day and generating more than $1.5 billion in toll revenue annually as of 2012.
Contents
The seven bridges are:
The two tunnels are:
History
Originally named the Triborough Bridge Authority, the authority was created in 1933 as a public-benefit corporation by the New York State Legislature. It was tasked with completing construction of the Triborough Bridge, which had been started by New York City in 1929 but had stalled due to the Great Depression.
Under the chairmanship of Robert Moses, the agency grew in a series of mergers with four other agencies:
With the last merger in 1946, the authority was renamed the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority. Generating millions of dollars in toll revenue annually, the TBTA easily became a powerful city agency as it was capable of funding large capital projects. From the 1940s-60s, the TBTA built the Battery Parking Garage, Jacob Riis Beach Parking Field, Coliseum Office Building and Exposition Center and East Side Airlines Terminal, as well as many parks in the city.
The TBTA was merged into the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in 1968. Surplus revenue, formerly used for new automobile projects, would now be used to support public transportation. Since then, more than $10 billion has been contributed by the TBTA to subsidize mass transit fares and capital improvements for the New York City Transit, Long Island Rail Road, and Metro-North Railroad. The MTA Bridges and Tunnels trading name was adopted in 1994. The name Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority is still the legal name of the Authority and was used publicly between 1946 and 1994.
Law enforcement
The Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority (TBTA) employs less than 500 Bridge and Tunnel Officers (BTO's), who are NYS Peace Officers authorized to make arrests and carry firearms on and off duty. BTO's patrol the Authority's 9 facilities on foot and in marked patrol cars, which are now painted to resemble New York State vehicles. Besides law enforcement, the BTO's collect tolls (exceptions being the Hugh Carey and Midtown Tunnels, which switched to electronic toll collection only beginning January 4, 2017) They also assist vehicles stuck in E-ZPass lanes, operate tow trucks to clear disabled vehicles, and clear snow from the roadways. The TBTA also has a Special Operations Division/Collision Reduction Unit, which enforces all aspects of the New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law and NYC Traffic Rules with a main emphasis on speed enforcement. Starting in 2017 New York State Police (troopers) and the National Guard will be station at all TBTA facilities in order to replace and phase out TBTA officers as per the Governor of New York State, Andrew Cuomo.
Toll rates
E-ZPass rates are for tags issued by the New York Customer Service Center only -- vehicles with E-ZPass accounts from other agencies pay the cash rate. Tolls are charged in both directions unless otherwise noted. All rates are effective on March 22, 2015.
Open-road cashless tolling will be implemented in all MTA Bridges and Tunnels facilities by the end of 2017. The Henry Hudson Bridge already has open-road tolling, and the two tunnels would be the next facilities to have cashless tolling facilities. The tollbooths will be gradually dismantled, and drivers will no longer be able to pay cash at the bridge. Instead, there will be cameras mounted onto new overhead gantries near where the booths are currently located. Drivers without E-ZPass will have a picture of their license plate taken, and the toll will be mailed to them. For E-ZPass users, sensors will detect their transponders wirelessly.
Prohibited traffic
Part 1022 of the Rules and Regulations Governing the Use of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority Facilities prohibits certain types of vehicles, such as: