By Arthur H. Gunther III
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How would you feel if someone with clout and cash decided to throw a party in your home, didn’t invite you, left a mess and couldn’t remember your name?
That’s about to happen in South Nyack, N.Y., and Tarrytown, just across the mighty Hudson River, a National Historic waterway that itself should get more respect. I mean Henry Hudson explored this part of America, right?
He found the river though he was seeking the Northwest Passage, but it now appears transportation gurus in Washington and at Albany, directed by a president and governor, can’t find post-exploration settlements on the Hudson’s shore. And they have GPS. If they could, taxpayers at South Nyack and Tarrytown would like them to come visit, sit a spell and tell them what to expect when a new bridge is built joining the communities.
Actually, a crossing already exists – the , named by a newspaper editor (Norman R. Baker of The Journal-News) but since 1994 officially termed the Gov. Malcolm Wilson Tappan Zee Bridge. Built in 1955. it was constructed on the cheap to save money and to get it up quickly. It was designed as the New York State Thruway’s “cash register on the Hudson,” to pay off the bonding.
The bridge, carrying far more traffic than originally expected and requiring super-costly renovation, is now said to be failing, though there is dispute over this, and special interests like the trucking lobby and construction unions want it replaced.
A nearly $6 billion, two-bridge choice is to be designed as quickly as the last one.
That’s where the disrespect for South Nyack and Tarrytown comes into play.
It seems the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, not required in the 1950s but now at least an attempt to address land, water, air and people issues, has not properly examined the effects on either side of the Hudson.
Why not? The Thruway backs up daily in both locations and vehicle emissions fill the air. Trucks are a special problem, their diesel exhaust clearly visible as a tripling of pre-1990 truck traffic continues. The new crossings’ landfall also will affect property values and quality of life during and after construction, and promises even more traffic.
President Obama and Gov. Andrew Cuomo have fast-tracked bridge replacement, contending it will create jobs in an economy in need of re-invention as well as assure the soundness of the interstate system. So they will occupy South Nyack and Tarrytown to get the job done, hardly caring if they make a mess of life there.
It’s their party, though the bridge jobs will be temporary and the new crossings will be as impotent in moving increasing traffic as is the present bridge.
Decades ago, the interstate system should have constructed a major connector road between I-84 and I-95, so that trucks bound for New England go north and east and do not need to take the Tappan Zee. That should have been done before I-287 opened in the early 1990s, almost doubling Tappan Zee truck traffic overnight. Also, a one-seat ride should have been provided for commuters west of the river. And a dedicated bus lane should have been established on the bridge.
Those two moves would have reduced auto traffic.
Now, with fast-track design, bidding and construction ever so rapidly approaching, these old issues still have not been resolved. South Nyack, which lost hundreds of homes and its entire downtown through state seizure in the first Tappan Zee build, will get another sock in the jaw. And that punch will vibrate over the Hudson at Tarrytown, too.
Nice when some have friends in high places. Not so nice if those friends are your enemies.
You can see that the TZ is rated FO- Functionally obsolete, along with scores of other bridges in the area. There are many worse that are labeled SD, or structurally deficient- these are the ones you should worry about and there are many. What functionally obsolete means is that they think it should be able to carry more traffic- not that it's falling down. They just want to make it wider- it is in fine shape, particularly with the hundreds of millions that have been put into it in the last years with deck replacement, pier protection, etc. it ain't falling down and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
all of a sudden you have become a expert.
On John's point that the new "wider" bridge, with a break-down lane and pedestrian/biking corridor, might be restructured soon after it opens to accommodate more traffic, especially trucks (the real reason for a new TZB), I bet he is right. The irony is that most complaints about new crossings at South Nyack/Tarrytown could go away overnight with a transit/vehicular tunnel, so wonderfully built by more enlightened interests elsewhere in the world. That irony is compounded by a metaphor for modern America versus the one that existed during World War II: No one thought a bridge could be built across the Tappan Zee, but the genius engineer who designed the Mulberry harbors that effectively secured victory on the D-day beaches, sketched out what we have now, albeit the cheaper version of the bridge he planned. Why isn't there a better plan that is a model, not a deterrent, for the environment and the people therein?
It seems like IF it were possible to create an underground corridor it would be wonderful. How would that affect the large boats that travel up and down the hudson? I also wonder about the need to really repace the bridge. Could portions be replaced and the bridge still be in use? I'm sure all of these questions have been asked and answered already and I"m a litte late in jumping on the bridge bandwagon, however here I am.
Train connections could be made at the mall from new tracks linking the Pascack Valley Line (Pearl River to Spring Valley route) and the Main Line (Sloatsburg, Hillburn, Suffern). These tracks would run along the Thruway, in its large right of way. With proper planning, few properties would have to be taken. Private investment would help pay for parking lots and stations by building town house/shopping communities near them, in reasonable size, of course. The tracks would also carry freight, reducing highway trucking and helping pay the high cost of laying track. An alternative would be cheaper light rail.
The tunnel could at least be partially funded by rail freight use, new development around to-be-built train stations and sale of existing Thruway land plus reduced future maintenance. But think of the enormous payout in 100-year regional planning by building a tunnel that opens up the Northeast to improved transit while actually improving quality of living for the locals, who usually get a kick in the rear when interstates are built. The nation has long advanced because we always chased a frontier. The building of the transcontinental railroad was one such endeavor. We must return to thining big, to be brilliant again rather than have special interests keep us in blinders.
http://capntransit.blogspot.com/p/myths-about-tappan-zee-bridge.html Here's a summary lifted from his page: Here are eight reasons to tear the bridge down - and not replace it: 1) The Tappan Zee Bridge is a huge waste of money. 2) The Tappan Zee Bridge replacement project will be an even bigger waste of money, anywhere from $5 billion to $18 billion. 3)The Tappan Zee Bridge competes with existing transit. Taxpayers currently pay 90% of the operating cost of buses over the bridge, and we will continue to do so as long as the State makes it easy for people to drive. 4)The Tappan Zee Bridge is a sprawl-generating machine. The sprawl created by this bridge in Orange, Rockland, Bergen and Westchester counties is bad for everyone in the area. The bridge sprawl puts teens, seniors, the poor and the disabled at a disadvantage. 5)The Tappan Zee Bridge sprawl increases the pressure for hydrofracking. 6)The Tappan Zee Bridge sprawl keeps Nyack, Suffern and the other towns from being Strong Towns with sustainable budgets. 7)The Tappan Zee Bridge sprawl adds to pollution 8)The Tappan Zee Bridge sprawl kills.
I just don't think the engineering has been studied as well as it could be, though I have little hope of seeing serious thought arising or perhaps any innovation at all in this steam-roller push to give the interstate system barely any more vehicular space while slapping Rockland silly. And, yes, the Tappan Zee opened the door to very poor planning, often no planning at all. Now we have the graying of the suburbs and a whole bucket full of problems to come.
This is, unfortunately, smoke that cannot be put back in the pipe. The region is very dependent on that span and we cannot undo the hubris that caused prior generations to choose the widest part of the river for the site.
I know, having lived in Brooklyn Heights many years ago, that -long before the Internet, and the ability to access government files, that neighborhood successfully thwarted Robert Moses' plan to gut the neighborhood by running the highway through the middle of it. Compare Sunset Heights for a neighorhood that did not have the resources to oppose- it was cut in two, and to my knowledge, never recovered. The question is largely one of organization, money, time commitment and coordination of resources- lot's of smart, earnest folks around here who could pitch in. And, it is not just about stopping progress- any plan must take account of mass transit, in addition to all the other concerns that are being raised. Me, I'm planning to move. Not because of this, but we are relocating to Austin as soon as our house in Grandview sells. I'll miss this neighborhood- and am glad to contribute some time and a little money. But, I think we all need a little direction, so it's not just pissing in the Internet wind. Best, Bill Hart
As a retired newspaper editorialist, I am merely repeating arguments made over and over, often reinforced by the public but ignored by government and its special interests.