County Executive Robert P. Astorino today called on Gov. Cuomo to make building a replacement bridge for the Tappan Zee a top priority.
“The time has come to invest real political capital in getting the replacement bridge built,” said Astorino. “We can’t wait forever for a perfect solution.”
In a major speech delivered at the Manhattan Institute’s Forum on Replacing the Tappan Zee Bridge, Astorino said that years of study and planning are doomed to failure – not because the bridge could cost $9 billion or more, but because there has been insufficient leadership from the state on this issue to overcome political, legal and environmental obstacles.
This leadership, he said, must come from the governor “because he, more than anyone else, controls the levers and resources of government to get the job done.”
“My pledge to Governor Cuomo is that I am ready to stand with him,” Astorino said. “I am willing to invest whatever political capital I can bring to getting a new bridge built. But we must make the rebuilding a priority. Otherwise, the future will be filled with nothing but more expensive studies, more traffic congestion, more bureaucratic delays and more growing safety concerns.”
The three-mile long Tappan Zee Bridge, connecting Westchester and Rockland counties, was built 55 years ago. A Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) is expected to be released this fall by the three state agencies jointly conducting the Tappan Zee Bridge/I-287 Corridor Project. This draft will present an analysis of potential impacts of replacing the bridge with a new 8-lane crossing that will also have separate lanes for bus rapid transit, lanes for pedestrians and bicyclists as well as the capacity to add commuter rail.
In his address, Astorino said that irrespective of whether that plan is perfect or less than perfect, it is time for the planners and engineers to put away their pencils and for those in charge to make the bridge happen.
“Government exists to provide essential services that we as ordinary citizens can’t provide for ourselves,” Astorino said. “Roads, bridges and transit are on the top of any list of those essential services. So what does it say about our government if it can’t build a bridge that everyone agrees is essential? It says government is failing to meet its obligations to its people.”
Astorino offered what he called his “alphanumeric blueprint” for what it will take to get the Tappan Zee Bridge shovel R E A D Y.
R is for reality. “The first rule is that we must have a plan that is practical enough to actually get the bridge built. Commuter rail trains over the Tappan Zee would be great to have. But how realistic is it to add $6 billion to a $9 billion project, when we don’t have the first $9 billion?”
E is for education. “Once we come up with a realistic plan, we need to educate the public about it. …It is an absolute certainty that large portions of the public will hate whatever is proposed…You can hear the howls already: Too big, too small, too expensive, too slow, too dangerous for the environment.” Astorino said this campaign has to start even before the bridge plan is finalized so that the public understands that the bridge is essential to the economic well-being of the region.
A is for action. “It is time for the planners and engineers to put their pencils down… To spend $83 million on thousands of pages of studies with no end in sight is governmental malpractice,” he said. “It is time to finish the planning for the bridge that we are actually going to build and move onto construction. Failure to do so will mean more money wasted on studies and higher costs for any project – not to mention severe economic problems if the TZB has to be shut down.” It must be the governor who leads the effort, Astorino said.
D is for dollars. “My sense is that the money to pay for the bridge, which though substantial by any calculation, is actually a secondary hurdle when compared to mustering the political will to build the bridge. If we can develop a clear and cogent business case that the money will be spent wisely and accounted for precisely and that the end product will produce tangible benefits for our citizens, then I believe financing will fall into place,” Astorino said.
Y is for yes. “We need to say yes to the bridge,” he said, “Once we commit to a future course, we must stay on it.”