New York City Transit Improvements - A New Tappan Zee

[hkskyline]

NYS: replace Tappan Zee Bridge, add mass transit

NEW YORK, Sept 26 (Reuters) - New York State should replace the Tappan Zee Bridge, one of the busiest Hudson River links, after years of debate over whether the 1950s-era span should just be fixed, state officials said on Friday.

The state Transportation Department recommended replacing the bridge, which links Rockland and Westchester counties, northwest of New York City, at a cost of $6.4 billion.

The new span would for the first time give suburban commuters an option other than driving, offering a bus rapid transit service along the 30-mile east-west section of the Interstate road that runs through the two counties.

The drivers or bus riders could then take New York State's Metropolitan Transportation Authority trains to midtown Manhattan's Grand Central Terminal.

The bus rapid transit system, which includes a network of stations, would cost $2.9 billion.

Ground-breaking for a new bridge could begin in 2012 after a series of public hearings and design and environmental studies, a state transportation spokesman said. "Construction may take several years," he added.

The bridge would be designed so that a $6.7 billion commuter rail line could be added to let commuters ride to Metro North rail road stations and on to Grand Central.

Asked when that line would open, the spokesman said: "We will be studying that as we move forward on the bridge." He noted that cites and towns must be consulted about issues including where new stations should be located.

The plan was endorsed by the New York State Thruway Authority, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and Gov. David Paterson, and was developed in cooperation with federal highway and mass transit agencies.

The state Transportation Department said it was "finalizing a contract for a financial adviser to develop options for funding the project and will release the initial phase of a finance study soon." A department spokeswoman said the Wall Street firm was Merrill Lynch .

Asked whether the state would turn to private developers to fund the bridge, bus service and rail line, the spokesman replied: "Everything's on the table." The Democratic governor previously said the Tappan Zee was a candidate for privatizing.

The bridge was named after the Tappan Indian tribe, whose name was combined with the Dutch term for a broad swathe of water, a zee.

[hoosier]

Fuck BRT. Build a commuter rail line in the new bridge.

[hkskyline]

Report: Find 'innovative' funding for NY bridge
20 November 2008

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) - A preliminary report on building a new Tappan Zee Bridge acknowledges that the cost "could far exceed the traditional financing capacities" of the state and federal governments.

The 383-page study issued Thursday suggests looking into "innovative sources" of funding.

The state Transportation Department has suggested replacing the overcrowded bridge with a larger one strong enough to carry a commuter railroad. The estimated cost is $9.3 billion.

The new report includes case studies of other projects in places from New Jersey to China. It says the Tappan Zee project would benefit from early planning and funding, working in stages as money becomes available and drawing in private money along with government resources.

[jarbury]

Heck that's a lot of money for a bridge. The Milieu Viaduct in France cost like one twentieth of that.

And I agree. BRT is a waste of time for a project this big. Should definitely be commuter rail.

[Northsider]

BRT?

[hoosier]

Funding for this bridge should be part of the new transportation bill that Congress will pass in 2009.

[coreyt]

BYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

[hkskyline]

I wonder what is so structurally unique about this span that results in such a huge price tag?

[hkskyline]

Source : http://www.pbase.com/hbickel/image/83621074

[hkskyline]

Replacing NY Tappan Zee Bridge could cost $32 bln

NEW YORK, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Replacing New York's Tappan Zee Bridge, which spans the Hudson River about 13 miles north of New York City, could cost as much as $32 billion if mass transit links were included, a state transportation report said on Thursday.

The price tag would fall below $5 billion if the 1950s-era bridge were only upgraded with other improvements, the report said.

New York has only identified $1.5 billion to $4 billion of money for the project. That estimate assumes New York gets $200 million a year in federal highway aid and $1.4 billion in federal aid that could be used to repay debt.

Tolls could be used to back $1.4 billion of bonds, but other debt would also have to be sold and repaid by funds that have yet to be found, the report said.

Drivers now pay a $4.50 toll for the bridge. A Thruway Authority spokeswoman could not say how much tolls would have to go up to repay billions of dollars of new debt.

The Thruway Authority has over $2 billion of one type of bonds outstanding and the report said it cannot sell enough new debt to pay for a new Tappan Zee Bridge.

The list of financing hurdles includes the authority's debt covenants, which bar any other agency from building a bridge that would compete with the Tappan Zee; nor can the Thruway Authority sell or lease its assets.

Though Democratic Gov. David Paterson has said the Tappan Zee could be a candidate for privatization, the report said state law would have "to be substantially modified" for that to happen.

[jarbury]

WTF? Who comes up with these figures? How can simply building a bridge cost that much? Surely you could do a tunnel instead (including a mass transit line) for a couple of billion max.

Here in Auckland we're proposing a 3 km tunnel for about a billion US dollars.

[ElVoltageDR]

Uff that sure as hell seems like a pretty step price tag.

[hoosier]

Originally Posted by hkskyline

I wonder what is so structurally unique about this span that results in such a huge price tag?

It is over three miles long and crosses a navigable waterway.

[foxmulder_ms]

It is OVER OVER OVER priced if the figure is correct.

[Nexis]

i cross that bridge 2 a week , it is 7 lanes wide and causes traffic jams , it has a zipper barrier ! For some reason they have recently begun replacing the road deck and guard rails , which seems like a waste of money if your going to replace it. The odd replacement of road deck has caused more traffic due to raised road plates. actually 4x more then normally! Its a beautiful bridge , at night i lights up in bluish-whitish lights , it fits in with the Geography and area over all ! an easy solution is to build extra lanes on the side of it! if they do replace it , they should widen the Northern thruway side. which is worse then bridge traffic. on Sundays traffic can build up 108 miles north of Bridge! I usually sit in that coming back from hiking in the Catskills!

[Jim856796]

It would suck if the new Tappan Zee bridge cost $32,000,000,000. That cost would make the replacement bridge a white elephant and a waste of money.

[Glodenox]

It's not *that* easy to add extra lanes to a bridge. Most of the time adding lanes hardly helps either. It's the bottlenecks that have to be solved. Only if the road has more lanes before coming to the bridge, it's understandable that more lanes would be constructed.

Looking at Google Earth I can't really tell whether it would be acceptable in this case or not. It looks like the bridge itself has been made blurry so I can't really see where the bottleneck is in this case...

Greetings,
Glodenox

[hkskyline]

Repairs underway on NY's Tappan Zee Bridge
27 April 2009

TARRYTOWN, N.Y. (AP) - Drivers are giving the first rush-hour test to new plates and ramps installed on the Tappan Zee Bridge between Westchester and Rockland counties.

There were complaints about long delays and vehicle damage when the New York State Thruway Authority did similar repair work last year.

Traffic ran smoothly across the span on Sunday.

The repairs are part of a $147 million deck replacement project designed to keep the bridge safe.

[hkskyline]

NY moves to partnership with private companies to repair, improve public infrastructure
1 June 2009

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Gov. David Paterson says New York will join with private companies to repair and improve highways, bridges and other infrastructure to reduce public costs and create private-sector jobs.

A report on privatization that Paterson is releasing Monday doesn't push some big name initiatives floated in the past. There's no plan now to lease out part of the state lottery or operation of the Tappan Zee Bridge.

But Paterson says the state can consolidate the many public works projects across the state under one or a few companies to improve efficiency, save money and get projects done faster. It's unclear if public sector jobs would be lost.

Among the other moves under consideration are leasing property at state university campuses and wind power turbines off shore.

[hkskyline]

Repairs on NY's Tappan Zee Bridge run $24 million over budget
14 August 2009

TARRYTOWN, N.Y. (AP) - Repairs for New York's Tappan (TAP'-uhn) Zee Bridge are running $24 million over budget.

The New York State Thruway Authority says crews found deterioration in steel support structures that required extra work.

Replacement of the bridge's road deck started in 2007. The total pricetag is now estimated at $171 million.

The repairs are considered a stopgap measure. It's expected that the bridge, which links Rockland and Westchester counties, will be replaced entirely in the next decade.