On Friday, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC) announced a request for $18.6 million in federal transportation funds to begin preliminary engineering work on the Tappan Zee Bridge project.
The amendment to the downstate New York Transportation Improvement Program (TIP)—the basic blueprint for downstate transportation spending—would “program funding for preliminary engineering work for the Tappan Zee Hudson River Crossing Project in Westchester and Rockland counties to include steel pile procurement, installation, testing and removal.” The plan calls for $18.6 million in federal “Interstate Maintenance” support.
This means that the project is moving forward despite the elimination of public transportation, which the County Executives of Westchester and Rockland originally wanted on the bridge. Officially, the project is in the first phase of the environmental review, but there’s clearly a lot going on behind closed doors.
In order for the amendment to make it onto the TIP (and thereby get federal funding), there must be a consensus among the voting members of NYMTC. Although the NYMTC typically approves all of its members’ proposals, council members have previously vetoed particularly objectionable plans.
A public comment period runs from Dec. 12-21. Those interested in seeing changes to the project should contact Governor Cuomo and their local elected officials.
While this article only addresses it obliquely, both Vanderhoef and Astorino could use this NYMTC procedure to kill the transit-double-cross bridge project. Both have to vote affirmatively to add the project to the TIP, and a no vote would stop it in its tracks. So don’t let these county executives say how bad the project is while they stand by and let it happen.