Tappan Zee span opening to be delayed

Robert Megna, outgoing executive director of the state Thruway Authority, told its board of directors that the opening of the first span of the new Tappan Zee Bridge will be delayed about six months.

Megna said the $3.98 billion Tappan Zee Bridge replacement is still set to fully open in 2018 and is on budget, but the opening of the first span has been pushed to spring or summer of 2017. The first span was set to open in December 2016.

“It”™s advantageous to keep traffic on the existing bridge as long as possible,” Megna told the board Nov. 9 at a meeting in Albany.

He said that there was a “slight, awkward issue” with diverting traffic flow at an angle from the new bridge, which could slow down traffic to 45 mph.

“There was no reward to rushing to getting this bridge working in the winter when the traffic issues would be at their height,” he said.

Megna also announced the names of the highly anticipated Tappan Zee Bridge toll advisory task force.

The seven-member panel includes: Joan McDonald, former commissioner of the state Department of Transportation; William C. Thompson Jr., a former New York City comptroller; Lawrence C. Salley, chairman of the White Plains Housing Authority and a task force member for the White Plains transit hub idea; Gerald D. Jennings, former mayor of Albany; and Matthew Rand, managing partner of Better Homes and Gardens Rand Realty and Rand Commercial Services along with Hudson United Home Services. The task force will be co-chaired by Matthew J. Driscoll, commissioner of the state DOT, and the executive director of the Thruway Authority.

The task force will hold monthly meetings and analyze toll rates and potential discount options for commuters and residents. The group is expected to report its findings in mid-2016.

Megna also said there are no expected toll increases in 2016, marking the sixth year that the Thruway has avoided an uptick in tolls on the Tappan Zee Bridge.

Megna said that all planned dredging is complete and that concrete has begun getting poured for the base of the two main span towers.

Megna is stepping down from his post with the Thruway Authority in mid-January to take a job as the senior vice president for finance and administration at Stony Brook University on Long Island.

“I”™m grateful to have had the opportunity to work with the dedicated staff members of the Thruway Authority and Canal Corp. Without them, the Thruway Authority would not be in the process of building one of the largest infrastructure projects in the nation while also keeping one of the busiest superhighways safe for its motorists,” he said in a statement.

Megna has spent 20 years working in state government. Before being tapped by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in January to become the Thruway Authority”™s executive director, Megna was the director of the state Division of Budget.

Megna”™s replacement at the Thruway Authority must be nominated by the governor and approved by the state Senate.