President Obama Warns of Transportation Funding Crisis

TARRYTOWN, NY—As President Barack Obama took to the podium at the Washington Irving Boat Club on the Hudson River shoreline here on Thursday afternoon, behind him almost on cue traffic began to back up on the existing Tappan Zee Bridge, while work continued on about a dozen waterborne cranes on the $3.9-billion new Tappan Zee Bridge.

In his first official visit to Westchester County as President, Obama related that the new bridge was sorely needed to replace the aging, crumbling and obsolete Tappan Zee Bridge. In fact, it was President Obama who, at the behest of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, fast-tracked the permitting process for the new Tappan Zee Bridge project, called the ‘New, New York Bridge” by state officials, back in October 2011 after more than a decade of delay. The US Department of Transportation in December 2013 closed on a $1.6-billion Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) low-interest loan to help finance the project with the New York State Thruway, the owner of the Tappan Zee Bridge.