Bridges

The Cuomo administration has not released basic information about its plans for a new Tappan Zee Bridge that should have been made public under New York's freedom of information laws, say leading transportation and environmental advocates. The Tri-State Transportation Campaign and the conservation group Riverkeeper say it's one way that the Cuomo administration has short-circuited the public process in its rush to build the bridge.

Governor Andrew Cuomo's rushed plans for a transit-free Tappan Zee Bridge are shortsighted and increasingly unpopular. They may also be illegal.

You can add Tarrytown to the growing list of Hudson Valley suburbs that want Governor Andrew Cuomo to include transit on the new Tappan Zee Bridge, reports Dani Simons at Mobilizing the Region.

The calls for rapid transit on the Tappan Zee Bridge are coming from more places across the Hudson Valley. This week Orange County Executive Edward Diana joined his colleagues in Westchester and Rockland Counties to demand that bus rapid transit be built on the new Tappan Zee span. Local governments on both sides of the river, too, continue to sign on in support of new cross-county transit, which the Cuomo administration removed from the project, disregarding a decade of public planning.

After a seven and a half month detour, the time is finally upon us: Starting Monday, cyclists can return to the north side of the Manhattan Bridge, and pedestrians can go back to the south side. The days of biking on the harrowing Bowery detour are just about over, and knock on wood, there were no casualties (except for the credibility of the Daily News editorial page).

Looks like the Cuomo administration is starting to feel the heat for taking transit out of plans for the new Tappan Zee Bridge. A press release yesterday from the Thruway Authority shows the agency looking a bit defensive about its transit-free bridge, which has been criticized by an ever-growing number of Hudson Valley residents, municipalities and elected officials.

Last night, hundreds of Rockland County residents gathered at the Palisades Mall to tell the Cuomo administration that a transit-free replacement Tappan Zee Bridge isn't acceptable. In Westchester, too, support for transit across the bridge is running high. Three more local governments have passed unanimous resolutions supporting Tappan Zee transit: the city of Yonkers, the town of Greenburgh and the village of Dobbs Ferry.

Support for transit ran high at the first of two public hearings on the Tappan Zee draft environmental impact statement at the Palisades Mall in Rockland last night.

Governor Andrew Cuomo may have axed plans ten years in the making to build transit across the Tappan Zee Bridge, but hey, at least he promised to consider turning the old structure into a park, right?