Even as representatives and planners were floating a proposal for a new Tappan Zee Bridge to parallel the existing span, business leaders, including those in Connecticut, were sizing up the plan with sharp eyes and sharp pencils.
How can a new bridge help the region attract businesses?
“In order for the economy to grow, appropriate infrastructure must be in place to enable people, goods and services to move throughout a region,” said Marsha Gordon, president and CEO of The Business Council of Westchester. “Business attraction and economic development can only occur in a region that is prepared for growth. The Tappan Zee Bridge and the mass transit that will connect the region will be a key factor when businesses consider the Hudson Valley area for relocation and growth opportunities.”
Al Samuels, president and CEO of the Rockland Business Association (RBA), said the bridge is unsafe and therefore must be replaced.
“I am very supportive of the decision to build a new bridge,” Samuels said. “That said, it would be absolutely unconscionable to build it without mass transit. We have people who commute back and forth and if they can leave their cars at home that benefits all of us.”
Samuels is supportive of a one-seat ride from Rockland to points on the east side of the Hudson, including New York City, but is not sure which mass-transit option is the way to go.
“I still have concerns about whether people in high level positions are going to feel comfortable riding the bus,” Samuels said of one of the plans being floated: bus rapid transit (BRT).
Joe McGee, vice president of public policy at The Business Council of Fairfield County, said a new bridge will prove a musk for business.
“Attracting labor is the competitive advantage for business,” McGee said. “Opening up that labor pool both to Westchester and Fairfield counties is an enormous economic advantage for the region.”
McGee said the cost will be $6.4 billion for the bridge, $6.7 billion for the rail and for the bus $2.9 billion.
As for mass transit on the bridge, “We like the idea of the commuter rail connection,” McGee said.
McGee said a commuter rail that would start in Suffern and connect to Port Chester”™s New Haven line, would be “great for us.”
McGee is also in favor of a BRT component.
He said rail ridership is up dramatically in Connecticut, and long term some type of train service across the bridge would benefit the whole region.
Transit advocate and columnist Maureen Morgan is in favor of an option that calls for a full corridor CRT (commuter rail transit) without a Hudson Line rail connection.
Morgan said she does not believe BRT will work and said it might be better to have RocklandWestchester”™s bus companies work out an express-line service. and
She said of the people crossing the Tappan Zee, 70 percent are going across the corridor east and west and 30 percent are heading to and from New York City.
Morgan said a rail line from Stewart International Airport to Stamford could connect five rail lines and four states (New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, which can be accessed from Suffern”™s Port Jervis line).
