Less than two years after its most recent hike, the New York State Thruway Authority is considering another increase in tolls.

The authority predicts a sizable shortfall in revenue because traffic is down. As is the case across the country, highway traffic has fallen as gas prices have risen.

But high gas prices are one of the best arguments against a toll hike.

Sure, people who take weekend pleasure trips might be driving less, but businesses don't have that option. The steady flow of truck traffic on the thruway is the flow of the state's commerce.

Once upon a time we were told that tolls would be eliminated in 1996, after financing for the highway system's construction was to be paid off.

And just last year, a proposal that ultimately failed called for the poorly managed state Canal Corporation to be separated from the thruway authority in an effort to free up more money for road repairs and spare motorists from another hike in tolls.

An increase in tolls shouldn't be accepted as inevitable, although that's the way it's being pitched to the public.

The thruway authority argues that because it doesn't run on tax dollars, raising tolls is the only way to make up for shortfalls in revenue.

But before the tolls begin increasing - perhaps a little less than 5 percent a year for the next four years - we want the thruway authority to look at other alternatives.

Administrative costs are a good place to start.

The thruway authority was established in 1950 and was supposed to have a finite existence.

While tolls are sure to be with us for decades to come, the time has come for the authority to begin to downsize itself.

Cutting the fat from its bureaucracy would go a long way toward giving some relief to New Yorkers, who pay high taxes - and high tolls.