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FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM MARCH 23, 2017 • THE COURIER SUN 3 BY ROBERT POZARYCKI rpozarycki@qns.com @robbpoz Just a few weeks before the summer beach season arrives, the toll booths at the bridges to and from the Rockaways will be a thing of the past. New open road, cashless tolling systems at the Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge and the Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Bridge will be activated on April 30, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Thursday. As of April 30, cash tolls will no longer be accepted at the crossings; the tolls will be collected electronically either by scanning a vehicle’s E-ZPass or through a “toll-by-mail” system in which each vehicle will be photographed, and a bill will be sent to the vehicle’s owner. The open road method will not affect Rockaway residents who receive a discounted toll at these crossings, Cuomo said. They will be provided through E-ZPass the best rate for all drivers. “The Rockaway bridges are vital arteries for the Queens community, and we are taking action to reduce congestion, increase safety and streamline the commute at these crossings,” Cuomo said. It’s the latest step in the MTA Bridges & Tunnels ongoing toll collecting conversion from traditional manned booths to open road tolling at its crossings across the five boroughs. Open road tolling has already been enacted at the Queens Midtown Tunnel in Long Island City, as well as at the Hugh Carey (Brooklyn Battery) Tunnel and the Henry Hudson Bridge. The Robert F. Kennedy (Triborough) and Verrazano Bridges will go cashless this summer, followed by the Whitestone and Throgs Neck Bridges in the fall. Under open road tolling, scanning devices and digital cameras are mounted onto gantries elevated above traffic lanes. Vehicles can keep moving as their E-ZPass tags or license plates are scanned or photographed. According to the governor’s office, cashless tolling will save commuters up to 21 hours of traveling each year, and reduce the amount of fuel consumed and emitted. Drivers who still use tokens for the Rockaway bridges may still do so through April 29; after that date, they may redeem their leftover tokens at any E-ZPass New York Customer Service Center (the Queens location is at 19-02 Whitestone Expwy. in Whitestone) or request redemption by calling 212-360- 3000 (select option 6 and ask for a token refund kit). Rockaway residents who use tokens will be mailed information from MTA Bridges & Tunnels about transitioning to E-ZPass. Of course, many Queens residents want the Cross Bay Bridge toll to completely disappear. It is the only crossing in New York City in which drivers must pay to travel between parts of the same borough. More bad news for M train weekend riders BY ANTHONY GIUDICE agiudice@qns.com @A_GiudiceReport The train pain on the M line in Queens will continue on weekends next month. The recent storm that left Queens under a sheet of ice also froze scheduled weekend repair operations on the M train line between Middle Village and Bushwick, causing the MTA to shut down the line for an additional two weekends. At the beginning of March the MTA announced that M train service would be halted between the Metropolitan Avenue stop in Middle Village and the Myrtle Avenue-Broadway station in Bushwick for 11 weekends between March 3 and June 26 for preliminary work replacing track panels before the full closure of the line starting on July 1. However, last week’s severe weather — along with the weather forecast for this upcoming weekend — has created an unsafe work environment on the elevated tracks, leading the MTA to cancel the scheduled work for March 18-20, and rescheduling it for the weekend of March 25-27. The MTA also added the weekend of April 1-3 to the docket of work. The updated list of closures is as follows: March 25-27, rescheduled from March 18-20; April 1-3, added due to weather impacts of March 14; April 8-10; April 22- 24; April 29-May 1; May 13-15; May 20-22; June 3-5; June 17-19; and June 24-26. The new schedule is still weather permitting and subject to last-minute changes. All weekend closures will be in effect from between the hours of 12:01 a.m. Saturdays until 5:00 a.m. Mondays. To get riders where they need to go, fare-free shuttle buses will be in service at these stations: Myrtle Avenue-Broadway, Central Avenue, Knickerbocker Avenue, Myrtle- Wyckoff Avenues, Seneca Avenue, Forest Avenue, Fresh Pond Road, and Middle Village-Metropolitan Avenue. During the weekend shut downs, M train service will continue to be in operation from Essex Street in Manhattan to Broadway Junction in Brooklyn. For up-to-date information on these closures, visit mta.info. Photo: Anthony Giudice/QNS The toll booth at the Cross Bay Bridge will soon be replaced by an open road tolling system. Screenshot via YouTube/Allen1628famm A M train arrives in the snow at the Flushing Avenue station. CRUISING CASHLESS Rockaway bridge tolls are going open road this April


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