No toll hikes on the Atlantic Beach Bridge

                                                                                     

Atlantic Beach Bridge (source:Nassau County Bridge Authority)
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While the MTA is considering fare increases or service cuts,  crossing the the Atlantic Beach Bridge will still cost $2 -- the same price drivers have paid since 2008.

Vincent Grasso, executive director of the Nassau County Bridge Authority said in an email yesterday:

 "I am very pleased to announce that for the 14th Straight Year, the Atlantic Beach Bridge will NOT be increasing the toll."

Grasso said he researched the history of MTA bridges and found every MTA Bridge since 2007, "has increased its toll no less than SEVEN times, with increases over that same time period between 111% and 211%.  The average annual increase was between 7.32% and 11.58%."

He included a chart he prepared. (see below)

Given the anxiety over the coronavirus and possible MTA fare increases, Grasso wrote "some good news  is certainly in order."

He said the Atlantic Beach Bridge "will REMAIN fully operational and operating with NO service cuts or interruptions."

"People often ask, 'Why doesn’t the Atlantic Beach Bridge do things more like the MTA?”' Grasso wrote. "The better is, 'Why doesn’t the MTA do things like the Nassau County Bridge Authority?”'

Not sure if so many people ask that question, but okay.

The lengthy drawbridge crosses over the Reynolds Channel, connecting the Nassau Expressway in Lawrence to Park Street in Atlantic Beach.

It provides one of only three ways to drive off and onto the Long Beach island.

Opened in 1927, it was replaced with a higher bridge in 1952. It was rebuilt in 1998, reopening in 2000. The state legislature created the Nassau County Bridge Authority in 1945 to operate the bridge.

For decades, critics have complained that the Bridge Authority is a patronage mill for whatever political party is in power in Nassau. State comptroller audits through the decades found that most of the tolls collected go to pay toll takers and support staff.

During the less-politically-correct days of Republican County Executive Fran Purcell, who served from 1997 through 1987,  bridge supporters  behind closed doors said the tolls were needed to keep New York City riffraff  from Nassau ocean beaches.

Grasso, a Democrat who serves on the Valley Stream board of trustees, today scoffed at both allegations.

He said the bridge authority had reduced its head count from 2008 through 2021 by 42 percent while many other authorities and goverments increased staffs.

He said the authority "has managed its finances such that we were granted a credit upgrade by Moody’s in 2018 to A2, citing strong financial management.  Nassau County is in its 21st year under a Financial Control Board, with no prospect of getting out."

"The Nassau County Bridge Authority is the only toll plaza in the North Eastern United States to have not raised its tolls in 14 years," Grasso said.

"And if the way to keep out the riffraff is to make access cost prohibitive, I would say we’re doing a pretty lousy job. "

                                                                                

         MTA bridge and Atlantic Beach Bridge toll increases, from Vincent Grasso


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