Despite not collecting tolls in the eastbound direction since 1986, the MTA did not do anything with the unused booths for a quarter-century. In 2010, eight of the eleven Brooklyn-bound toll booths were removed as part of the first phase of a project to improve traffic flow at the toll plaza. Two years later, the last of the eastbound tollbooths was removed. Until 2020, tolls were still collected in the Staten Island-bound direction only, and congestion within Lower Manhattan persisted due to the bridge's one-way westbound toll.