Tappan Zee Replacement Gains Traction

TARRYTOWN, NY-The wheels are in motion to replace the aging Tappan Zee Bridge connecting Tarrytown and Nyack on opposite banks of the Hudson River. Following approval of the $3.14-billion bid by a consortium known as Tappan Zee Construction, the New York State Thruway Authority has authorized $500 million in bonds to help pay for initial construction costs. Up next is the start of public outreach with a pair of community meetings scheduled for next week.

“This is a giant step forward for the new New York Bridge to replace the Tappan Zee, a project that is vital to the long-term economic well-being of the lower Hudson Valley and the entire region,” Howard Milstein, chairman of the Thruway Authority's board of directors, said when final approval of the TZC contract was announced on Jan. 18. “It is also important to note that the design-build process produced a savings of $1.7 billion compared with original state and federal cost estimates.”

The Thruway Authority says the TZC proposal offered the lowest cost and the shortest construction timeline among the three bidders, running to five years and two-and-a-half months. To help make that schedule a reality, the TZC consortium, which includes Fluor Enterprises, American Bridge Co., Granite Construction Northeast and Traylor Bros., will use the “Left Coast Lifter,” one of the world's largest floating cranes. Fluor and American Bridge had deployed it in 2009 to aid in building the new eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

The Left Coast Lifter is able to lift 1,750 metric tons, representing12 times the weight of the Statue of Liberty. Use of the Left Coast Lifter will also ease demolition of the old Tappan Zee span, according to the Thruway Authority.

Although the $500-million bond issue will ensure sufficient funds on the Tappan Zee project “for the next six to eight months,” a Thruway Authority spokesman told the Journal News that the Cuomo administration is expecting federal financing in the form of a federal loan through the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act. “We knew the process was going to take time,” the spokesman told the newspaper last week. “We have been receiving very encouraging news for TIFIA and we are confident that the new bridge project will receive TIFIA support.”

The meetings that TZC has scheduled for residents of Rockland and Westchester counties will be the first opportunity the public has had to meet the construction team. They're scheduled for Feb. 6 at the Westchester Marriott in Tarrytown and at Nyack High School in Upper Nyack the following evening. Both get under way at 7 p.m.