BTW people often ask why are we still paying tolls (particularly before tolls were used for mass transit purposes)- the original bonds must be paid off by now. True but think of all the maintenance. The original cost of the bridge completed in 1961 was less than the maintenace contract work being done when the fire occurred.
See below:
The Throgs Neck Bridge opened to traffic on January 11, 1961. The bridge's $92 million construction cost was entirely financed by TBTA bonds, and its approach roads were financed under the Federal-aid Interstate highway system. Originally designated I-495 when it was in its planning stages, the bridge received the I-78 designation when it was under construction in December 1958. It did not receive the I-295 designation until 1971.
The following editorial appeared in Newsday on the day the bridge opened:
The $92 million Throgs Neck Bridge, easing the flow of traffic in and out of Long Island, opened this morning, another evidence of the genius of "Big Bob the Builder" Moses. This structure, one of the handsomest suspension spans in the United States, links the Long Island Expressway and Grand Central Parkway with the New England Thruway, offers an alternative route to the New York Thruway, and through the Cross Bronx Expressway will shortly feed into the George Washington Bridge and the New Jersey Turnpike. It will be a blessing to Long Island and a vast relief to the whole metropolitan area. But Moses isn't content to pass one miracle. From the bridge dedication, the distinguished guests proceeded to Flushing Meadow Park to open the headquarters for the 1964 World's Fair, another Moses enterprise. The man is phenomenal. Long Island, where he started in the parkway business, is mighty proud to claim him, a resident and doer of good works.
During 1962, its first full year of operation, the Throgs Neck Bridge carried approximately 63,000 vehicles per day. At the time, it was expected to take 16 million vehicles away from the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge. However, instead of relieving traffic, the new span ultimately increased traffic from the Bronx and points north to Queens and Long Island.