The business owners, ironworkers, retirees and political candidates who attended a recent open house on the Tappan Zee Bridge”™s future were generally of two minds about whether a new structure buttressed by mass transit could be a bridge to a brighter economy.
The two things everyone seemed to agree on were something has to be done about the bridge and the federal government needs to help as much as possible.
“Federal aid is going to be key,” said Michael P. Anderson, director of the Tappan Zee Bridge/I-287 Corridor Project, which is preparing a draft environmental impact statement to share early next year with its partners in Washington D.C. ”“ the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration.
The $16-billion project ”“ led by the New York State Department of Transportation, the state Thruway Authority and MTA/Metro-North Railroad ”“ calls for a new bridge containing eight lanes for vehicles, two for bus rapid transit (BRT), two tracks for commuter rail transit (CRT), emergency shoulders and a shared-use lane on the north side for bikers and walkers.
The CRT would take riders from Suffern across the new bridge and down Metro-North”™s Hudson Line via express service. The BRT ”“ a combination of a bus and a train ”“ would operate 24/7 between Rockland and Westchester counties, with express, semi-local and local buses feeding into other bus lines and collecting passengers at six stations in Rockland and 17 in Westchester. Some of these stations would be established in shopping centers that parallel the I-287 corridor.
In addition, there would be six transit hubs ”“ Hillburn, Interchange 14 and the Palisades Center in Rockland; Tarrytown, White Plains and Port Chester in Westchester.
Officials are also considering whether the BRT would operate in bus-ways separate from vehicular traffic or in shared use lanes (Rockland) or exclusive bus lanes (Westchester).
Anderson said he expected the bridge construction to create “many, many hundreds of jobs, not only for workers at the site but those making materials to be used there.”
That was music to Matthew P. Stoddard”™s ears as he surveyed the project”™s videos and information stations June 28 in the Westchester Marriott”™s Grand Ballroom in Tarrytown.
“I”™m loving it,” said Stoddard, recording secretary and business agent for the Iron Workers Local 417, based in Wallkill. “This would create a thousand jobs or more for five years. The economy is terrible. People are desperate for jobs.”
“Right now, there”™s 30 percent unemployment in the construction industry,” said Eddie Jorge, an organizer for the Iron Workers District Council of Greater NY & Vicinity, based in Tarrytown. “We need these jobs.”
Timothy Hauser of Orangeburg understood: His Hauser Bros. Inc., mechanical contractors, has gone from 80 to 20 construction workers. His Hauser Bros. Holdings L.L.C. is looking for a tenant for its 36,000-square-foot building on Route 303 in West Nyack, the old Journal News printing plant. He said he was hoping that a new bridge and its transit amenities would entice a sizable company to lease the space.
“Everyone from corporations to the public is looking for this,” he said.
Well, not everyone. Some privately expressed the opinion that a car culture would not yield to BRT.
Thomas Bock ”“ a Greenburgh resident who is running for the Assembly, 92nd District on the Republican and Conservative lines ”“ said he is concerned about people losing houses and businesses to eminent domain should the state require their land to create bus stations.
While the subject of eminent domain did not come up in the videos or displays, one table tellingly contained a few pamphlets titled “How Does New York State Acquire Property for Public Purposes?”
Added Bock, “Ultimately, (the project) is not addressing congestion now.”
But project director Anderson said this is precisely what the proposals for a new bridge and mass transit are designed to do. They are, however, a moot point without money, said Michael B. Kaplowitz, a member of the Westchester County Board of Legislators, 4th District who is running for state Senate on the Democratic ticket.
With Albany in financial disarray, Kaplowitz said, “this has to be a partnership with the federal government.”
