2016 was good year for Mid-Hudson bridges

HIGHLAND – The five Hudson River bridges operated by the New York State Bridge Authority saw increased traffic and revenue in 2016.
Traffic increased by 4.24 percent with 2.5 million more crossings than in 2015 with a total of 62.8 million crossings.
Revenue rose by 4.1 percent for a total of just under $59 million collected. That is up $2.3 million over 2015.
Bridge Authority Executive Director Joseph Ruggiero said the increases can be chalked up to one key factor.
“We attribute it mostly to the lower cost of fuel,” Ruggiero said. “Gasoline prices have come down and usually our traffic is an indicator of where gas is.”
The greatest percentage increase in traffic and revenue for all of 2016 was on the Bear Mountain Bridge – 6.3 percent increase in traffic and 7.7 percent increase in revenue.
The Newburgh-Beacon Bridge on Interstate 84, the busiest of the crossings, saw traffic up 5.7 percent, to 26.4 million crossings. Revenue rose by 4.7 percent, to $31.1 million.
The Mid-Hudson Bridge, with 14.5 million crossings, saw a 1.8 percent increase over 2015. Revenue rose to just under $11 million, up 2.3 percent from 2015.
The Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge saw just under 2.6 percent more traffic in 2016 over the previous year – at 8.1 million crossings. Revenue of $6.1 million was up 2.3 percent over 2015.
Traffic on the Rip Van Winkle Bridge rose last year by 3.3 percent to 5.8 million crossings while revenue rose by 2.4 percent, to $4.8 million.