MTA Bridge & Tunnel Traffic by Crossing (2025)

In short: The MTA's nine bridges and tunnels carried 340,352,556 crossings in 2025, about 930,000 a day. The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge was the busiest by far, with 81.2 million. 85.8% of crossings were read as E-ZPass. Traffic is back above 2019 levels, and most crossings are close to an even split between the two directions.

All numbers on this page were counted by TLC Help on October 12, 2026 from the MTA's open dataset MTA Bridges and Tunnels Hourly Crossings: Beginning 2019 (ebfx-2m7v), which runs from January 1, 2019 to September 22, 2026. "Crossings" means all vehicle classes in both directions.

The numbers at a glance

Crossings by toll plaza

The RFK Bridge has two toll plazas in the data: the Bronx plaza and the Manhattan plaza. That makes ten bars for nine crossings.

The two Rockaway bridges (Marine Parkway and Cross Bay) together carried fewer crossings than the Henry Hudson Bridge alone. These are also the three cheaper crossings: $3.42 at the Henry Hudson and $2.80 at the Rockaway bridges with a New York E-ZPass, against $7.46 at the others (MTA rates from January 4, 2026).

E-ZPass share by crossing

About one crossing in seven was read as Tolls by Mail. For a driver that matters because the mail rate at the large crossings is $12.03 against $7.46 with a New York E-ZPass. The MTA calls the payment method "preliminary": a crossing read as mail can still end up charged to an E-ZPass account (for example at Mid-Tier). Why a TLC driver with E-ZPass can still get a bill: why did I get a toll bill with E-ZPass?

Direction split

How to read the first series: Verrazzano "Eastbound to Brooklyn"; Whitestone and Throgs Neck "Northbound to Bronx"; Queens Midtown "Westbound to Manhattan"; Henry Hudson "Northbound to Bronx"; Hugh L. Carey "Northbound to Manhattan"; Marine Parkway "Northbound to Brooklyn"; Cross Bay "Northbound". The Henry Hudson is the most uneven: 57.0% of its 2025 crossings went south into Manhattan.

The Verrazzano split is almost exactly even, which fits the bridge being tolled in each direction since December 1, 2020. For TLC drivers the direction matters because the passenger pays the Verrazzano toll on trips into Staten Island but not on trips out of it: Verrazzano and Rockaway return toll rule.

Year trend from 2019

Two things stand out:

• 2020 was the low point (226.2 million). By 2025 traffic was 1.5 times the 2020 level.
• The Verrazzano count doubles from 2020 (34.5 million) to 2021 (75.7 million), right after two-way tolling began. Before that the data shows far fewer Verrazzano crossings, so compare years for this bridge with care. Leaving the Verrazzano out, the other crossings carried 254.9 million crossings in 2019 and 259.2 million in 2025: 1.7% more.

The E-ZPass share moved little: 87.3% in 2019, 85.2% in 2020 and 2021, and 85.8% in 2025.

How often TLC trips pay a toll

The MTA data can't separate taxis and FHVs from other cars. TLC's own trip records can show how often a trip records any toll:

What the data can't tell you

• Who was driving. The vehicle classes are car, truck, bus and motorcycle. TLC vehicles are inside "car".
• What was paid. The MTA says the dataset counts "all traffic on the facilities, regardless of whether the driver ultimately pays the toll," and the payment method is "preliminary." It is not a revenue count.
• Discount plans. Resident plans, Mid-Tier charges and rebates are not shown.
• Exact times. Crossings are grouped by hour.

Toll prices side by side: NYC toll rates compared. How the MTA charges TLC trips: MTA bridges and tunnels. Other data pages: TLC summons statistics, TLC traffic summons statistics. Crossing pages: Verrazzano-Narrows, Henry Hudson. Should you take the toll bridge with a passenger? Toll bridge or free route. Credits at the tunnels: congestion pricing crossing credits. Tolls hub.