Local officials met on Tuesday evening, by special invitation, with officials from New York State Department of Transportation. Nyack Trustee Richard Kavesh called the meeting “informative.”
Officials were shown multiple alternatives: one deck, two decks, multiple sections, etc. Present at the meeting representing Nyack were Trustees Denise Hogan, Richard Kavesh, Marie Lorenzini, Louise Parker, and Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) Chair Steve Knowlton.
The Tappan Zee Bridge/I-287 Corridor Project issued a Scoping Summary Report in May summarizing the results from the alternatives and analysis methodologies used in preparation for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). Public and agency comments are also included in the report.
Although the project has support from most community leaders, not everyone is on board. “The plans currently on the table will be the greatest disruption to this area since the TZ Bridge was originally built,” says George Sherman and Sherwood Chorost, editors of The Concerned Citizen, a publication which opposes bridge construction.
“The Tappan Zee has become the quintessential 21st-century planning dilemma,” City University civil engineering professor Robert E. Paaswell told the New York Times. “It’s a 50-year-old bridge beyond its design life. And the community around it has grown so developed and complex that there are real questions about whether people can agree on how to replace it.”
See also: NYT, Tappan Zee Bridge/I-287 Corridor Project
What surprises me is the lack of outrage about the proposed bridge. The plans call for a structure that will be three times the size of the current bridge. The D.O.T. says that it will remain within its right of way but that means whatever buffer zone there was keeping the Thruway at bay will dissapear as this monster is built. How different is today than the 50′s when the Thruway bulldozed its way through Nyack, So. Nyack and beyond with no local imput. Now we have had meeting after meeting giving the semblance of great public imput. But the bottom line is that we have been kept up to date with the plans but with no real power to do anything about them. For example, the subject of a tunnel alternative has come up many times but has been totally dismissed by the D.O.T. based on 11 flawed reasons that have been challenged but not rebutted. Paul Feiner, the respected Supervisor of Greenburgh, has requested, under the Freedom of Information Law, details as to how this decision was made. Thus far he has received no reply. Does this lack of responsiveness tell us how little interested the D.O.T. is in our concerns? What it tells us is what a sham all these meetings have been and the only purpose they served was to cover the D.O.T.’s behind so that no one can say that they didn’t include the public. In truth they have turned a deaf ear to some legitimate concerns. I haven’t even touched on the potential huge increases in air and noise pollution as the highway is expanded to accommodate this proposed bridge. And if anyone thinks that all this pollution will remain in D.O.T.’s “right of way” they are in for a rude awakening. Again, where is the outrage from both the public and our elected officials?
George Sherman
Yes, there was discussion of this at the meeting and there is a bikepath/pedestrian path in both directions.
Is there still a bike path in the plans? Was there any discussion about this at the meeting? This is a no-brainer for this project which one transportation official told me is going to happen. But I haven’t seen any of this in writing.
A bike path connection Nyack and Tarrytown would be a boon to both communities attracting visitors and increasing commerce on both sides of the river. Plus its great exercise, too!
Has anyone else heard anything about a bike path on the new TZB?
-dz
The inevitable construction of a new Tappan Zee Bridge and the inevitable construction of a widened New York State Thruway will be the biggest project to hit Rockland County since the original TZ Bridge was finished some 50+ years ago.
As such, it behooves all of us to be vigilant about mitigating the effects of this mega-project on our communities and making sure that the promised mass transit becomes a reality.
As George Sherman and others have pointed out, funding for building TZ 2 itself and funding for mass transit have now been separated.
This means that a new bridge could be built with additional lanes for Bus Rapid Transit but that these lanes could be converted into lanes for more trucks, cars, etc. if the funding or ridership for BRT doesn’t materialize.
If this happens, TZ 2 would then be reminiscent of the lower level of the George Washington Bridge, which was originally intended for rail and just ended up doubling the traffic and worsening the air quality. Rockland could then end up with pollution and traffic problems similar to those who live near Route 80 and the Cross Bronx Expressway.
Referring very specifically to the lower level of the GWB, the Thruway told us that “we don’t work like that.” I take them at their word but I also remember that “the price of liberty is eternal vigilance.”