Tappan Zee Plan Moves Forward

ALBANY-The ongoing debate about the upgrade or replacement of the Tappan Zee Bridge is moving forward, state officials said Friday. Howard Permut, president of Metro-North Railroad, which may build a commuter rail line along the bridge’s three-mile span, says in a statement that “we are closer than ever to a consensus” on an infrastructure project that has been estimated at $18 billion.

A trio of consulting firms has made recommendations that will further narrow the number of bridge configurations and transit options to be analyzed in the project's ongoing environmental study. The team, which includes Earthtech/AECOM, AECN and Ove Arup, all based in Manhattan, last week briefed county and state officials on their recommendations; the goal is to publish the Draft Environmental Impact Statement early next year.

"The Tappan Zee Bridge and Interstate 287 corridor link the Hudson Valley and beyond,” says Stanley Gee, acting commissioner of the New York State Department of Transportation, in a statement. “The Tappan Zee project consultants' latest recommendations will help us move forward, ultimately constructing a new, transit-ready bridge across the Hudson River, expanding transportation options and strengthening the economy for us and future generations."

NYSDOT leads a three-agency team, also including the New York State Thruway Authority and Metro-North, that recommends replacing the span and developing bus rapid transit and commuter rail systems along the 30-mile I-287 corridor between Suffern in Rockland County and Port Chester in Westchester County. The bridge crosses the Hudson River between Tarrytown in Westchester County and Nyack in Rockland County, and thus serves as a crucial juncture for traffic into and out of New York City. It also provides access to and from upstate New York and neighboring states to the west and north, including New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.

Built in the early 1950s and expected to last only 50 years—a lifespan that theoretically ended in 2005—the Tappan Zee now carries about 140,000 vehicles on a typical day and up to 170,000 on peak travel days. The typical daily traffic is about eight times the volume it supported in the ‘50s, while the peak volume is about 70% more than the 100,000 daily crossings it was designed to support.

In July 1999, then-Gov. George Pataki told a radio audience that replacing the Tappan Zee was “one of the options under consideration by the Thruway Authority because it is so old and does need such major repair.” Nine months later, engineering firm Vollmer Associates completed a three-year study that detailed recommendations for upgrading the existing structure or replacing it with a new eight-lane span as well as augmenting it with mass transit options.

During a five-year “alternatives analysis” process, NYSDOT, Metro-North and NYSTA and federal agencies considered 156 different possibilities for improving conditions along the Tappan Zee/I-287 corridor. They combined those into 16 different scenarios, later whittled down to six in a January 2006 report.

A scoping process that began in 2002 and included public input led to the recommendation in March 2009 that the bridge be replaced. Two months later, another report was issued recommending bus rapid transit from Suffern to Port Chester and commuter rail from Suffern to a direct connection with Metro-North’s Hudson Line for service to Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan. There have been dozens of additional public meetings since that time.