We begin the northbound descent into The Bronx. A typical emergency call box is present on the center median lamppost, although it won't do anyone stuck in the right lanes much good, unless they sprint real fast. The foremost pole is a second generation Whitestone pole, with no gradated "Empire State Building" finial on top. It most likely replaced a truck knockdown or storm victim.

Get your $3.50 ready folks, at least if you still live in 1999, when I originally wrote all this. I'm sure the guy in the Lexus can afford it, unless he's still driving the same Lexus as I write this again in late 2012. Wouldn't that be something, to come across your own car like this on some website years later?
The Triborough Bridge Authority was generous to the EZ Pass challenged that day, giving more cash lanes than EZ Pass lanes. I have to say, I'm not used to seeing bumper stickers on a Lexus. It just doesn't seem like a Lexus owner kind of thing, y'know?
What's the toll amount today, today being September 2012? I don't know and don't want to know. I no longer live in New York and look to avoid these bridges like the plague whenever I am forced to visit. Actually, the Lexus guy probably had to hang onto his old vehicle in order to afford the current tolls.

A close-up view of a braced, mid-length masted SLECO lamppost, the Donald Deskey designed loonies that I lovingly nicknamed "Bigloops", with their new generation, at least as of 1999, mercury vapor luminaires. The masts are braced against the wind and the pole is protected below by the yellow, sand filled "trash can" style crash bumpers.
We have two U-turn warning signs, one for people who can read and one for people who like pictures. What can I say? In a few years we'll have interactive talking signs I'm sure. The signs will talk to your car and you just won't figure in the decision. The car will pay the toll and do all the thinking. Does that mean a car running on ethanol will be stopped for drunk driving?
Remember my prophetic 1999 ruminations above as we sink deeper into the 21st century.