State and federal officials cannot move ahead with the without county politicians' vote—and this week, county leaders said they want more information before filling out their ballots.
Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef, Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino and Putnam County Executive MaryEllen Odell are members of the The New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC), a nine-member group that is critical in moving the project forward.
A vote that would include the crossing in NYMTC's Regional Transportation Plan was slated for Tuesday of this week, but Vanderhoef, Astorino and Odell said they want to see the project's Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) before voting, according to NYMTC's website.
The FEIS document is due out in a matter of weeks; the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) , and addressed issues like wildlife implications and land acquisition.
County executives noted they want more information on issues like the price-tag and transportation details.
"We haven't seen the design proposal, and don't have details on the financing," said Susan Cerra, a spokesperson for Vanderhoef.
"The decision to postpone the vote was just common sense," Astorino said. "The FEIS is due shortly. Why would we have a vote before seeing what's in it?"
"I have said from the beginning, we need to build the bridge but we need to do it right," he added. "Getting as much information up front will pay big dividends in terms of building a bridge that’s affordable and meets the present and future needs of Westchester, the region, our state and our nation."
No new date for the vote has been set.
It is inconceivable to me that we are about to spend any money whatsoever building a Twentieth Century bridge for the Twenty-First Century. There should be NO new spans across or under the Hudson, in any form, that do not include mass transit. Why must we continue to spew carbon monoxide into the air, needlessly?? Rockland is the seventh-wealthiest county in the US. Our tax dollars are funding projects throughout the state and the country. It's time we got some of those taxes back, in the form of mass transit on this bridge. It's good for the skies, it's good for the residents, it's good for the future. No mass transit? No bridge!!