Speed cameras at Queens-Midtown Tunnel, Throgs Neck Bridge, other MTA crossings in state budget

Driving too fast past a work site on the Throgs Neck Bridge or Queens-Midtown Tunnel could soon result in an automatic fine for drivers, as New York State looks to install automatic speed cameras to issue tickets on city bridges and tunnels, according to MTA officials.

The measure, included in a state budget approved Thursday night in Albany, is billed as a public safety program. It could also add millions of dollars to the state’s coffers with fines starting at $50, while also deepening concerns among some motorists over the growing use of automatic camera enforcement on New York’s roads.

The $254 billion state budget deal includes plans to expand through 2031 the Automated Work Zone Speed Enforcement pilot program adopted in 2021, and already in place on roads maintained by the state Department of Transportation and Thruway Authority.

Gov. Kathy Hochul "has said since day one of this budget process that public safety is her top priority," Hochul spokesperson Kara Cumoletti said in a statement Friday. "Expanding this successful program to MTA Bridges and Tunnels is one more way the Governor is working to improve safety on our roads and bridges for workers and travelers alike."

Drivers would be hit with a $50 fine for a first violation, growing to $100 for the third violation within an 18-month period, according to the MTA. Hochul's office said the revenue generated from the fines would be reinvested into work zone safety programs.

"We want to make sure that our maintenance workers and contractors are safe, and this is another tool to accomplish that, for which we are grateful to the governor and the legislature," Catherine Sheridan, president of MTA Bridges and Tunnels said in a statement.

Hochul's office said that in 2024 there were 478 "work zone intrusions" on roads maintained by the state DOT or Thruway Authority, resulting in 168 injuries and three deaths. 

The bridge and tunnel speed cameras would be the latest employed by the state and MTA to enforce laws, and generate revenue. In January, the MTA implemented its first-in-the-nation congestion pricing program, which uses cameras to charge most vehicles $9 for driving below 60th Street in Manhattan. The cameras raised $159 million in revenue for the MTA in the first quarter of 2025, officials have said.

According to the state, the speed cameras could be installed at "any work zones located on a controlled access highway — or any roadway within the state designated for high-speed vehicular traffic."

Jay Beeber, executive director of policy for the National Motorists Association, a driver advocacy group, said he believes the expanded program has less to do with improving safety than with raising revenue for the state, which has increasingly relied on automated camera policies to punish drivers for "very, very minor violations."

"Clearly the state of New York has decided that live police officers don’t matter anymore," Beeber said in an interview Friday. "It’s not a good way to raise revenue but it’s an easy way to do it."

Driving safety advocate Karen Torres, whose highway maintenance worker father was killed in a work zone in 2006, praised the expanded program and said she doesn't "understand why anyone would be upset about it."

"If they had family members who worked on the road, I think they'd want this, too, to keep them safe," Torres, of Miller Place, said. "Everybody wants to go home at the end of the day. My dad never made it home."

Under the existing program, cameras are used to identify "any vehicle traveling equal to or faster than the posted speed limit, triggering the system to capture photos and the speed of the passing vehicle," according to the DOT.

Newsday has reported that under state law, tickets are triggered by vehicles going more than 10 miles per hour over the speed limit.

By Alfonso A. Castillo

alfonso.castillo@newsday.com@alfonsoreports

Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.