Tolls on Thruway go up Sunday
Posted: 01.02.2010 at 10:41 PM

Your trips on the New York State Thruway will cost a little more starting Midnight on Sunday. Tolls are increasing 5%. It's the 5th time tolls have increased since 2004.

Courtney Witherspoon of Buffalo, frequently travels the thruway between Buffalo and Albany. She said, "I wish they wouldn't go up just like every body else."

People say even though its only a 5%, if you travel the thruway every day, it can add up.

Witherspoon said, "I do a lot of traveling. Sometimes it's cheaper to drive than take the train or plane somewhere and at this point you might as well save your money to buy a plane or train ticket to go anywhere."

Cheryl Jonas-Acquilla travels the thruway every day between Amsterdam and Albany. She says there isn't an option for her to take an alternate route to save money. "It would take me two hours to get to work. Right now it takes me an hour."

Now frequent travelers are planning and budgeting.

Jonas-Acquilla said, "You have to add it in the budget. I have to go to work. I'll have to eat more peanut butter sandwiches for lunch."

Witherspoon said, "I will have to budget a lot differently and kind of time my trips to when I get paid and things like that."

While most people don't want to pay more at the tolls, others say they're willing to if their money is put to good use along the thruway.

Hemanth Rane live in Connecticut, but has a son at RIT. He says, "I love I-90. Its absolutely clean. I've driven through a serious storm in the wintertime and I had no problem driving. Hats off to these people. I don't mind paying the extra buck."

The Thruway Authority says it'll use those extra bucks to pay for $2.7 billion dollars in road improvements on the Thruway.