Any work to build a mass-transit system on the I-287 corridor will not begin until either a new Tappan Zee Bridge is built or the existing one is modified, said Mike Anderson, an engineer with the state Department of Transportation and leader of the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement project team.
Anderson spoke to members of the project”™s stakeholder committee last week in Tarrytown to provide an update on the process.
The project has two major components: deciding what to do with the current bridge and determining the best mode of mass transit for the I-287 corridor.
Options for the bridge range from modifying the current bridge, such as widening it or adding a sister structure, or constructing a new bridge, which could be a single or dual-level bridge.
Transit options being discussed include a bus rapid-transit system, light rail or a multi-modal bus/rail mass-transit system.
However, Anderson stressed that construction on whichever transit option is selected cannot begin until a new or modified bridge is complete.
That”™s because the state is pursuing what the federal environmental review process calls “tiering.” This means work on the corridor project would be done in phases, he said. Anderson said the tiering method will allow for maximum access to federal dollars, which are necessary to build the project.
“We won”™t start building transit until work on the bridge is completely done,” he said. “The highway and bridge improvements will always precede transit.”
Anderson said, given that reality, that work on the transit option would not start until around 2015 in a best-case scenario.
“But ultimately, we will deliver a complete system, fully implemented in the fastest way possible,” he said. “We are not delaying transit; all the work must be done in phases.”
Anderson said whatever option is selected needs to be implemented expeditiously, as the constant upkeep on the 52-year-old bridge costs “hundreds of millions of dollars” more each year because of inflation.
The state DOT said on Jan. 17 that additional public information meetings about the environmental impact would be conducted next month and the preferred transit mode or modes would be announced in May.
Design alternatives and alignments will be narrowed and put out for additional public review and comment during the summer. That process will be reflected in a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) to be published in the summer of 2009, followed by public hearings in the fall.
The costs for the choices range from $500 million for repairs to the existing bridge to $14.5 billion for a new bridge with commuter rail in Rockland and Westchester counties.
The schedule calls for a final EIS to be published in early 2010 after public comments are reviewed.
Plans for the highway and bridge improvements will be fully developed in the final EIS, he said.
The project schedule anticipates federal decisions on the initial EIS in April 2010, including formal “records of decision” on the preliminary transit analysis and the complete highway and bridge analysis. The second EIS developing mass-transit specifics is scheduled to begin as soon as the decision on the first is received.
