The biggest hurting us here in New York are the high taxes that feel like they give little return. This have a greater effect on upstate NY then it does NYC & Long Island due to various reason and I don't have the desire to dive into the topic.

Our Thruway goes through mostly very rural areas and connects to Routes that lead to other small times many times miles away. It was build as a direct connection to NY's 2 major cities and turns a very long drive down to about 2 1/2 hours. It is just off of this road are state parks with amazing untouched forests, wonderful rivers, and many lakes.

The road has had help grow upstate NY well beyond what the trains could do yet at the same kind let most areas keep it's small towns.

Yes there are flaws and things that could be changed but things are like that in many places.

Have you been on New Jersey Turnpike?

Joe