Record number of motorists used MTA bridges, tunnels in 2023

Transportation experts said it should come as no surprise that MTA bridges and tunnels are expected to hit an all-time traffic high this year, with driving trends that started after the pandemic continuing to stick.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority anticipates over 335 million vehicles used its seven bridges and two tunnels in 2023, surpassing its previous record of 330.7 million vehicle crossings in 2019, according to a release Thursday.

MTA bridges and tunnels include the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge, Cross Bay Bridge, Henry Hudson Bridge, Hugh L. Carey Tunnel, Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge, Queens Midtown Tunnel and Robert F. Kennedy Bridge.

Experts said several factors are leading to increased congestion.

Concerns over COVID-19 initially pushed more single occupancy cars on the roads, while flexible work schedules also led to less daily commuting on public transit. Working from home led to an explosion in online shopping and an uptick in freight traffic.

Tiffany-Ann Taylor, vice president of transportation at the nonprofit Regional Plan Association, said there's been an increase in car ownership while shifting commuting patterns extend beyond the metro area with people using the system more during the midweek and on the weekends.

"I think we still also need to remember that while levels that folks are traveling [on transit] are not back up to 2019, it definitely means that the system has more capacity to take folks," she said. 

Subway and bus ridership levels remain at close to 70% of prepandemic levels while LIRR ridership is also at roughly 70% of prepandemic levels on weekdays, transportation experts said.

Sam Schwartz, a transportation engineer and a New York City traffic commissioner in the 1980s, pointed to truck traffic at the crossings as the biggest contributor to higher traffic loads.

“We’re seeing 10% to 15% increases in truck traffic,” Schwartz said. “There’s more traffic. I am not surprised at all by the MTA’s report."

Since the MTA implemented cashless tolling at its crossings in 2017, the agency said travel time and crash rates decreased while average daily traffic through the toll facilities increased by 7%. 

Lisa Daglian, executive director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA, said she lives near the Queens Midtown Tunnel in Long Island City where she has watched traffic swell since COVID-19 emerged.

"It's not sustainable," Daglian said. 

She and transit advocates said that driving habits need to change, remaining hopeful that the MTA's congestion pricing plan's anticipated start in the spring will encourage more use of mass transit. Under the proposal, drivers are expected to pay $15 for entering the core of Manhattan, below 60th Street, with higher tolls for non E-ZPass users and trucks. Tolls would be discounted by 75% after 9 p.m.

Cars entering Manhattan from tolled tunnels would get a $5 credit.

“One of the goals of congestion pricing is in fact, to get people out of cars because the congestion is strangling us. The roads are impassable,” Daglian said.

But Lucius Riccio, a former New York City transportation commissioner, said that considering people who drive likely live in transit deserts, it's not clear that the new toll will actually steer motorists away from their vehicles.

"It's questionable," he said.

The agency said traffic levels this year are the highest since it opened its first three bridges in 1937 with 18.5 million car crossings that year.