Bridge Usage
In 2008 about 190,000 vehicles used the bridge per day on average.
As of December 2011, the one-way toll (paid westbound into Staten Island only) in cash is $13 per car or $5.50 per motorcycle. E‑ZPass users with transponders issued by the New York E‑ZPass Customer Service Center pay $9.60 per car or $4.18 per motorcycle; a five-axle truck pays $70, or $47.26 with NY E-ZPass. Holders of transponders issued elsewhere get no discount.
From 1964 to 1986, the toll was collected in both directions until Staten Island residents concerned about pollution from idling vehicles called for one way tolls. However, as of 2011 some of the eastbound toll booths are still in place, requiring drivers to slow down. While the high cost of the toll between Brooklyn and Staten Island has always been an issue for residents, some favor the toll because they see it as a way to curb population growth on Staten Island. Each of the four bridges to the Island is tolled.
In 2010 eight of the unused Brooklyn-bound toll booths were removed in the first phase of a project to improve traffic flow at the toll plaza; the remaining three Brooklyn-bound toll booths will be subsequently removed during the second phase of the construction project.
As the bridge was not built with a pedestrian walkway, non-motorized transportation is limited to using the bridge during special events such as the New York City Marathon and Five Boro Bike Tour. Recently, residents living on both ends of the bridge have lobbied for pedestrian access. In October 2003, Mayor Michael Bloomberg promised to look into establishing the long-awaited pedestrian and bicycle access.
Beginning April 9, 2012, E‑ZPass will be accepted at all toll booths including Cash recipients lanes.
The bridge has been called New York's "most dangerous bridge" because of the combination of deterioration and the 170,000 people who cross it per day.
Signs at both ends of the bridge forbid photography and video taping; however, it is not certain if the signs are intended to stop people from stopping on the bridge or ban photography and videography even from moving cars. Due to numerous suicide attempts, a sign that says "Life Is Worth Living" along with a suicide hotline has been installed on the Staten Island approach.
Read more about this topic: Verrazano-Narrows Bridge
Famous quotes containing the words bridge and/or usage:
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—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)
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Might be filled up, as vainly as before,
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The loftiest minds outrun their tardy ages.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)