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The Journal News: Tappan Zee Bridge Plan Gets Final OK From Federal Highway Officials

 

SOUTH NYACK —More than a decade since it was first discussed and less than a year after the project was fast-tracked by the president, a new Tappan Zee Bridge is set to become a reality.
 
Federal Highway Administration officials today gave final approval to the state’s $5 billion plan, a decision that allows the state to award a contract to a design-build team and begin construction to replace the aging 56-year-old span.
 
“This was the aspect of the project that had me holding my breath, and I going to exhale today for this step,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said this morning in a conference call with reporters.
 
“We’ve assembled a great team of professionals to do it,” he added. “We are focused. We work seven days a week. We went to the people on both sides of the river. We’ve had probably unprecedented community outreach, and unprecedented support on both sides of the river and both sides of the political aisle.”
 
Tom Madison, head of the state Thruway Authority, noted in recent years it has taken an average of 78 months, or about six and a half years, to secure a record of decision from the federal government. The state did it in 11 months, getting a major boost when the Obama administration made the bridge a national priority.
 
“It may have moved at record speed but I can assure you that there were absolutely no shortcuts taken,” Madison said during a signing ceremony held at the Thruway dock in South Nyack.
 
The federal record of decision confirms the project has met requirements under state and federal environmental law, including completing the environmental impact study, a 10,000-page document that details how the state will protect nearby communities and river wildlife during construction. A dozen federal and state agencies contributed to the document, and the draft report received more than 3,000 comments from the public.
 
John McDade, the top federal highway official in New York, said federal and state agencies scrutinized the project in a “very aggressive and rigorous process.”
 
He stressed that despite the speedy review, the National Environmental Policy Act process was done “without cutting corners.”
 
“It isn’t everyday that one gets to sign a Record of Decision for a project of such significance as the Tappan Zee,” McDade said.
 
Madison, McDade and state Transportation Commissioner Joan McDonald signed the documents at 10:56 a.m. Tuesday.
 
McDonald said the project wouldn’t have happened without Cuomo’s leadership and the “extraordinary and unprecedented level of cooperation” among state and federal agencies.
 
“At a time when we hear so much about dysfunctional government where people can’t agree on anything and the process goes on and on and on, this goes to show if we put our minds to it and work together we can get things done,” said Rep. Eliot Engel, D-Bronx.
 
South Nyack Mayor Patricia DuBow, like so many others who saw so many false starts with the project over the years, had her doubts.
 
“Who knew whether it was really going to happen,” DuBow said.
 
Rep. Nan Hayworth, R-Bedford, noted it took 13 years to reach this milestone. The process began with the Pataki administration and spanned four governors.
 
The state is now reviewing three bids to design and construct a twin-span bridge that would each feature four lanes of traffic, two breakdown lanes and a lane for emergency access vehicles. The northern span would also include a shared lane for pedestrians and bicyclists.
 
Cuomo last week announced the creation of a selection committee, made up of artists, architects and community representatives, to evaluate each of the proposals and make a final recommendation to the Thruway Authority’s board of directors. A design-builder is likely to be selected by the end of the year with construction beginning in early 2013.
 
The federal approval now allows the Thruway Authority, the owner of the Tappan Zee, to secure the state and federal permits needed for construction.
 
The state must still provide a detailed financial plan, but officials are first waiting to hear how much, if any, money they will receive from a low-interest federal loan. The state can apply for up to half of the project’s cost. It has asked for the maximum of $2.9 billion but that figure is likely to be lower.
 
“We feel very confident about our chances in getting a significant long-term low-interest loan from the federal government,” Madison said after the event. “This project is in a very advanced state of readiness when compared to other projects around the country that are applying so we feel like we’re very well positioned.”
 
The rest of bridge’s costs would be paid for through toll-backed bonds.
 
While federal approval lets the project proceed, possible lawsuits still threaten to hold it up.
 
Hudson Riverkeeper, which has criticized the plan for not adequately addressing how river life will be negatively affected, has said it would wait for the federal approval before deciding whether to take legal action.
 
When asked about the threat of a lawsuit, Cuomo said, “I wake up every morning expecting lawsuits,” but “we don’t have any special concern or knowledge of a lawsuit yet on this bridge. I would not be surprised if we had one. This step, however, makes it much more difficult for a lawsuit to proceed.”
 
Phillip Musegaas, Riverkeeper’s Hudson River program director, told The Journal News that the group “will carefully review the (decision) and if the state has not taken additional measures to reduce the environmental impacts on the river, we will go to court.”
 
Tri-State Transportation Campaign, a group that has pushed for bus rapid transit to be added to the project, called Tuesday’s announcement “good news” for the state, but argued that the plan still falls short in meeting mass transit needs.
 
“Rockland and Westchester residents will continue to sit in traffic on I-287 unless a true east-west transit system is quickly added to the corridor,” president Veronica Vanterpool said in a statement. “The Regional Transit Task Force promised by Governor Cuomo must begin a serious conversation about transit promptly, and its recommendations must be implemented with the same urgency and speed that have marked the other aspects of the project under his watch.”
 
Cumo said on Tuesday that more details about the transit task force will be released in the coming weeks.
 
In October, Cuomo asked the Obama administration to fast-track the project’s environmental review process. The ambitious project, which initially sought to overhaul 30 miles of the Interstate 287 corridor for a bus system and build a new bridge, had stalled in recent years, after $88 million in studies and 430 public meetings. But it has moved at lightning speed in the past 12 months.
 
Cuomo worked with state legislators to approve a design-build law that transformed the way the bridge contract was devised and awarded. He forged a project labor agreement with numerous unions and over the summer, he sent his top aides to speak at dozens of community meetings to promote his vision and address concerns.
 
In August, Cuomo secured the support of the county executives of Westchester, Rockland and Putnam to add the project to the long-range regional transportation plan. In a nod to local concerns, Cuomo said he would create a task force to study mass transit needs along the Interstate 287 corridor.SOUTH NYACK —More than a decade since it was first discussed and less than a year after the project was fast-tracked by the president, a new Tappan Zee Bridge is set to become a SOUTH NYACK —More than a decade since it was first discussed and less than a year after the project was fast-tracked by the president, a new Tappan Zee Bridge is set to become a reality.
 SOUTH NYACK —More than a decade since it was first discussed and less than a year after the project was fast-tracked by the president, a new Tappan Zee Bridge is set to become a reality.
 SOUTH NYACK —More than a decade since it was first discussed and less than a year after the project was fast-tracked by the president, a new Tappan Zee Bridge is set to become a reality.
 SOUTH NYACK —More than a decade since it was first discussed and less than a year after the project was fast-tracked by the president, a new Tappan Zee Bridge is set to become a reality.
 
 
SOUTH NYACK —More than a decade since it was first discussed and less than a year after the project was fast-tracked by the president, a new Tappan Zee Bridge is set to become a reality.
 reality.SOUTH NYACK —More than a decade since it was first discussed and less than a year after the project was fast-tracked by the president, a new Tappan Zee Bridge is set to become a reality.
 
Federal Highway Administration officials today gave final approval to the state’s $5 billion plan, a decision that allows the state to award a contract to a design-build team and begin construction to replace the aging 56-year-old span.
 
“This was the aspect of the project that had me holding my breath, and I going to exhale today for this step,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said this morning in a conference call with reporters.
 
“We’ve assembled a great team of professionals to do it,” he added. “We are focused. We work seven days a week. We went to the people on both sides of the river. We’ve had probably unprecedented community outreach, and unprecedented support on both sides of the river and both sides of the political aisle.”
 
Tom Madison, head of the state Thruway Authority, noted in recent years it has taken an average of 78 months, or about six and a half years, to secure a record of decision from the federal government. The state did it in 11 months, getting a major boost when the Obama administration made the bridge a national priority.
 
“It may have moved at record speed but I can assure you that there were absolutely no shortcuts taken,” Madison said during a signing ceremony held at the Thruway dock in South Nyack.
 
The federal record of decision confirms the project has met requirements under state and federal environmental law, including completing the environmental impact study, a 10,000-page document that details how the state will protect nearby communities and river wildlife during construction. A dozen federal and state agencies contributed to the document, and the draft report received more than 3,000 comments from the public.
 
John McDade, the top federal highway official in New York, said federal and state agencies scrutinized the project in a “very aggressive and rigorous process.”
 
He stressed that despite the speedy review, the National Environmental Policy Act process was done “without cutting corners.”
 
“It isn’t everyday that one gets to sign a Record of Decision for a project of such significance as the Tappan Zee,” McDade said.
 
Madison, McDade and state Transportation Commissioner Joan McDonald signed the documents at 10:56 a.m. Tuesday.
 
McDonald said the project wouldn’t have happened without Cuomo’s leadership and the “extraordinary and unprecedented level of cooperation” among state and federal agencies.
 
“At a time when we hear so much about dysfunctional government where people can’t agree on anything and the process goes on and on and on, this goes to show if we put our minds to it and work together we can get things done,” said Rep. Eliot Engel, D-Bronx.
 
South Nyack Mayor Patricia DuBow, like so many others who saw so many false starts with the project over the years, had her doubts.
 
“Who knew whether it was really going to happen,” DuBow said.
 
Rep. Nan Hayworth, R-Bedford, noted it took 13 years to reach this milestone. The process began with the Pataki administration and spanned four governors.
 
The state is now reviewing three bids to design and construct a twin-span bridge that would each feature four lanes of traffic, two breakdown lanes and a lane for emergency access vehicles. The northern span would also include a shared lane for pedestrians and bicyclists.
 
Cuomo last week announced the creation of a selection committee, made up of artists, architects and community representatives, to evaluate each of the proposals and make a final recommendation to the Thruway Authority’s board of directors. A design-builder is likely to be selected by the end of the year with construction beginning in early 2013.
 
The federal approval now allows the Thruway Authority, the owner of the Tappan Zee, to secure the state and federal permits needed for construction.
 
The state must still provide a detailed financial plan, but officials are first waiting to hear how much, if any, money they will receive from a low-interest federal loan. The state can apply for up to half of the project’s cost. It has asked for the maximum of $2.9 billion but that figure is likely to be lower.
 
“We feel very confident about our chances in getting a significant long-term low-interest loan from the federal government,” Madison said after the event. “This project is in a very advanced state of readiness when compared to other projects around the country that are applying so we feel like we’re very well positioned.”
 
The rest of bridge’s costs would be paid for through toll-backed bonds.
 
While federal approval lets the project proceed, possible lawsuits still threaten to hold it up.
 
Hudson Riverkeeper, which has criticized the plan for not adequately addressing how river life will be negatively affected, has said it would wait for the federal approval before deciding whether to take legal action.
 
When asked about the threat of a lawsuit, Cuomo said, “I wake up every morning expecting lawsuits,” but “we don’t have any special concern or knowledge of a lawsuit yet on this bridge. I would not be surprised if we had one. This step, however, makes it much more difficult for a lawsuit to proceed.”
 
Phillip Musegaas, Riverkeeper’s Hudson River program director, told The Journal News that the group “will carefully review the (decision) and if the state has not taken additional measures to reduce the environmental impacts on the river, we will go to court.”
 
Tri-State Transportation Campaign, a group that has pushed for bus rapid transit to be added to the project, called Tuesday’s announcement “good news” for the state, but argued that the plan still falls short in meeting mass transit needs.
 
“Rockland and Westchester residents will continue to sit in traffic on I-287 unless a true east-west transit system is quickly added to the corridor,” president Veronica Vanterpool said in a statement. “The Regional Transit Task Force promised by Governor Cuomo must begin a serious conversation about transit promptly, and its recommendations must be implemented with the same urgency and speed that have marked the other aspects of the project under his watch.”
 
Cumo said on Tuesday that more details about the transit task force will be released in the coming weeks.
 
In October, Cuomo asked the Obama administration to fast-track the project’s environmental review process. The ambitious project, which initially sought to overhaul 30 miles of the Interstate 287 corridor for a bus system and build a new bridge, had stalled in recent years, after $88 million in studies and 430 public meetings. But it has moved at lightning speed in the past 12 months.
 
Cuomo worked with state legislators to approve a design-build law that transformed the way the bridge contract was devised and awarded. He forged a project labor agreement with numerous unions and over the summer, he sent his top aides to speak at dozens of community meetings to promote his vision and address concerns.
 
In August, Cuomo secured the support of the county executives of Westchester, Rockland and Putnam to add the project to the long-range regional transportation plan. In a nod to local concerns, Cuomo said he would create a task force to study mass transit needs along the Interstate 287 corridor.
 
This article was written by Khurram Saeed and Theresa Juva-Brown, published by The Journal News, and can be found here.