Years later thousands have awakened to ODOT's intention: charging tolls on existing highways, and placing the money in a slush fund for whatever the department wishes. The tolls would increase during heavy traffic times, forcing weary drivers onto local roads.
Rhode Island's toll scheme directed at certain types of tractor-trailers was ruled unconstitutional by a federal court on Wednesday in a sound defeat for the state's attempt to make the trucking industry pay for the repair of its roads and bridges.
Instead, Gov. Kathy Hochul & Co. see this as an untapped cash cow at best, a conveyor of evil cars at worst. It is this perspective of the Brooklyn Bridge and other crossings that link the outer boroughs to the central business district that now manifests in congestion pricing, the most punishing tax on workaday New Yorkers in generations.