Politics on the Hudson

   State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli just issued an audit critical of the state Thruway Authority’s capital plan for 2005-11, saying it does not identify priority projects or say if they are on time or on budget. They will cost a lot more than the $2.7 billion projected and take a lot longer to finish, DiNapoli found. Auditors said it was difficult to track the status of the various projects and items in the plan.

   “In January, I said the Thruway Authority shoudl hold off on toll hikes,” DiNapoli said in a statement. “The Thruway Authority has not looked at its own spending or prioritized projects. Now the Thruway is pushing back the very projects it used to justify the toll increase in the first place. It begs the question even more: were the toll hikes necessary?”

   DiNapoli’s office began a series of audits on the Thruway Authority after several toll hikes were proposed. The Authority voted to raise tolls, claiming it needed extra money because of decreased traffic and in order to pay for the capital projects.

   The Authority’s capital plan includes more than 300 projects valued at about $2.14 billion for bridge and highway projects, $342 million for equipment and other facility capital needs, $250 million for the Canal System, and $7 million for economic-development projects. 

   Of 486 project items auditors examined, 90 were ahead of schedule, 151 were on time, 161 were behind schedule and 66 had been deleted. Overall, project item budgets increased by a net total of more than $514.7 million, or 19.5 percent, over the original capital plan, they found.

   Unlike the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s capital plan, the Thruway Authority doesn’t publish a comprehensive list of projects or project items, and it does not closely track progress. Only parts of the plan are published for management, the agency’s board and certain state policymakers, according to DiNapoli.