Does Anyone Else Miss Toll Booths in the Hudson Valley?

Now before you call me crazy and start screaming at me, let me explain.

If you spend anytime driving on some of the toll roads, or crossing any bridges in the Hudson Valley, by now you have noticed that having to stop at toll booths is becoming a thing of the past and before long there wont be any tolls booths any where.

I understand that the idea behind eliminating toll booths is to speed up traffic issues is parts of the Hudson Valley. If you've ever been driving east on I-84, trying to cross the Newburgh Beacon Bridge at almost anytime of day, you know the pain of sitting in traffic because the toll booths are backed up.

That pain has eased up since they went "toll booth free" recently, the Bear Mountain Bridge just went toll booth free as well. The New York State Thruway has eliminated many toll booths too, in Newburgh and New Paltz to name a few, with most now having drivers drive under a "gantry" to pay their toll for using the road.

A GANTRY!! What is that? LOL...As I drove under the gantry for the first time last week while I was crossing the Newburgh Beacon Bridge after a late night at Billy Joe's in Newburgh, I had a thought. I wonder how the nice lady that used to work the toll booth on the bridge every Tuesday night was doing? After crossing the bridge every Tuesday for years, I would see the same lady almost every week and after a while, we would have really quick talks as I drove through her lane every week.

Even when I finally got EZ-Pass, I would still go through the cash lane so I could say Hi to her. I don't know why I thought about her the other night, but I did and hope that she is doing good!!!! I might be alone here, but I think things like this are the reason why everyone seems to get uncomfortable with face to face interactions nowadays.

Who knows, but I'm blaming it on the lack of toll booths in the world. We have to blame someone, right?

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Hudson Valley Restaurants With the Most Critical Violations in 2021

Critical violations are those that can cause immediate harm to consumers such as undercooked food and improper storage of ingredients. Other violations like inadequate handwashing facilities or dirty conditions are noted as non-critical violations.

The ten restaurants below all received four or more critical violations during their latest inspection of 2021. In some cases, the restaurants were given the opportunity to correct the violations by inspectors and have done so. Just because a restaurant is on this list doesn't mean that they are currently in violation of the health code. However, the Board of Health does think it's important to be armed with information on how seriously a restaurant takes kitchen cleanliness, food safety and other important rules that affect the food you feed your family.