This Might Be Why There’s Always Newburgh-Beacon Bridge Traffic

Driving across the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge has been a nightmare as of late.

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For about eight straight weeks, I drove across the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge on Friday's around 5 p.m. Without fail there was traffic on the bridge, which was mostly back up from the toll.

Some of our readers reached out and I also noticed, cars always seem to get stuck in the EZ-PASS lane at the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge toll.

At first, we assumed this was because a non-EZ-PASS driver was in the EZ-PASS lane. However, a number of readers told us they have EZ-PASS but get stuck waiting in because the toll booth isn't reading their EZ-PASS.

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We asked the New York State Bridge Authority to comment on this situation. Below is the responders:

There could be a few reasons why a toll booth gate arm is not lifting for an E-ZPass user who is in the E-ZPass lane.

We find the most common cause of a “no-read” situation would be not having the E-ZPass tag properly mounted. For example, if someone doesn’t have the tag mounted and is not holding it up to the windshield properly, that can affect whether the tag is read. Here’s a link to the E-ZPass website with info on where to mount the tag that you may want to share with your audience: E-ZPass® New York - Tags (e-zpassny.com)

There could also be instances where a user’s fund balance in their E-ZPass account is in the negative, which would give the tag an “invalid” status. It is essential that everyone keep their payment information up-to-date on their E-ZPass account to avoid situations like this.

In very rare situations, the transponder battery may die and the tag needs to be replaced. Again, this is a rare occurrence, but is mitigated by proactively swapping out old E-ZPass tags for new ones.

The instances of “no-reads” is very low compared to successful reads of E-ZPass tags, so I emphasize that it’s important to keep the tag properly mounted and ensure all account information is kept up-to-date.

Of course, if anyone has questions on their E-ZPass account, they can log on to the website at www.e-zpassny.com or call the customer service line at 1-800-333-TOLL. They can also contact the NYS Bridge Authority should they have any general questions.

The good news, this may not be an issue for much longer. That's because starting on Wednesday the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge is going cashless.
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