Last Friday, community members, government officials, and advocates had their final chance to officially register comments on the proposed Tappan Zee Bridge replacement project. Their words echoed the call that has sounded since Governor Cuomo announced plans to fast track the project last October: the Tappan Zee must have transit from day one.

The Village of Nyack, for example, pulled no punches in its comments, in which Mayor Jen Laird-White criticized the state’s public process and faulty analysis of transit:

The state and the DEIS, in failing to implement any transit alternatives, have undermined the process by ignoring the substantial…support for transit alternatives demonstrated in earlier stages of the process. The state and the DEIS, in providing what appears to be an inflated estimate of the possible costs of implementation, have totally failed to meet their duties to the public…

On the other side of the river, the Village of Hastings-on-Hudson was unequivocal: “we believe it is important to include transit from the outset.”

Riverkeeper, a non-profit that works to safeguard the Hudson and protect New York’s drinking water, also took the DEIS to task in its comments: “[w]ithout mass transit, any replacement bridge will be obsolete from day one.” The organization also argued that the study failed to look seriously at all project alternatives and did not adequately address concerns about the Hudson’s endangered species and habitat.

Bob Baird of the Journal-News, writing just after the close of the comment period, catalogued the issues that have plagued the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement project, and transit featured prominently:

The 30-mile plan for the corridor from Suffern to Port Chester would not meet the region’s transportation needs without mass transit, we were told.

But just about the time we all bought into the plan, convinced the experts were right, the picture changed. The only way to get a new bridge built was to cut away the amenities. Mass transit, once a dire, immediate need, quickly became a luxury on a distant future wish list.

In its own comments, Tri-State called for the state to look at a variety of ways to improve transit in the corridor, ranging from specific projects to boost existing bus service to a full-fledged bus rapid transit line from Suffern to Port Chester: “despite assertions in the DEIS to the contrary, these alternatives are completely feasible and reasonable under the National Environmental Policy Act. The community character, socioeconomic, air quality, energy, and mobility benefits of these alternatives far outweigh any cost increase and must be analyzed.”