The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge is North America’s longest suspension bridgeGetty Images
The MTA in N.Y. has “quietly demanded roughly $750,000 a year” from N.Y. Road Runners to “make up for the toll revenue that the authority loses” when it closes the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge — North America’s longest suspension bridge — to vehicular traffic during the N.Y. Marathon. NYRR has “yet to acquiesce, prompting the MTA to play hardball.” The authority initially “threatened to restrict runners to the bridge’s shadowy lower deck.” But in recent weeks, the MTA “slightly relented.” Still, the authority said that there was “no way it would allow both decks to be used without a payment agreement in hand.” The marathon has used both decks since 1988. More than 50,000 runners are expected to participate. Should those runners be limited to only one level of the bridge, NYRR said that the organization “might have to reduce the number of people accepted into the race” (N.Y. TIMES, 4/4).
