Free Republic

Disgraced outgoing Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s stain is even affecting the legacy of his late father, three-term Gov. Mario Cuomo. Some Democrats are entertaining a push to remove Mario Cuomo’s name from the new $4 billion Hudson River crossing in Rockland/Westchester — an idea unthinkable just months ago. It would be renamed with its original moniker — the Tappan Zee Bridge. Queens Assemblywoman Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas, a Democratic socialist, has signed on as a co-sponsor of the bill to rename the bridge.

The Democratic congressman who reps both sides of the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge is calling on the federal government to investigate concerns about the span’s structural integrity. US Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY), who represents Westchester and Rockland counties, recently wrote a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, asking him to probe claims reported by the Albany Times-Union earlier this month that bridge contractors “covered up” faulty bolts in the $3.9 billion structure. Jones called on Buttigieg “to open an investigation into these claims and … to work with the New York state Department of Transportation to ensure proper inspections are...

There is a renewed push to change the name of the Gov. Mario Cuomo Bridge back to the Tappan Zee Bridge. A bill to change the name back to Tappan Zee was introduced by Assemblyman Mike Lawler, who represents part of Rockland County.A petition on change.org to change the name launched back in 2017 by a Westchester man and now has over 150,000 signatures. He says over the last three weeks, coincidentally as sexual harassment allegations against Gov. Andrew Cuomo surfaced, there's been renewed interest in changing the bridge's name. The bridge is named after the governor's father.Those in favor...

The Tappan Zee Bridge is no more. Built in 1955, the bridge was replaced after a $4 billion Gov. Mario M. Cuomo replacement bridge was opened to the public last year. For months, the husk of the old bridge remained in the water adjacent to the Cuomo Bridge. But Tuesday, explosives took the remaining structure down, leaving nothing but debris to clear in the water below. Traffic on the New York State Thruway/I-87/I-287 will be halted from exit 9 exit 11 for about 45 minutes while controlled explosion is taking place and shortly thereafter. Here are five things to know...

The opening of the second span of the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge on Saturday was delayed after a piece of its predecessor, the old Tappan Zee Bridge, which is parallel to it, became destabilized and threatened to fall, officials said. The Tappan Zee was being disassembled when the “potentially dangerous situation developed” and a piece of the old bridge became destabilized, Matthew J. Driscoll, the executive director of the New York State Thruway Authority, said in a statement on Saturday. .................. As the Democratic primary in New York on Thursday approaches, Mr. Cuomo’s opponents seized on the problem with the...

Chevy Chase was living out a scenario right out of a National Lampoon flick. The actor claims he was attacked in a road rage incident while traveling over the Tappan Zee Bridge in New York earlier this month when a passenger kicked him so hard he fell to the ground, TMZ reported. Chase, 74, told police that a black pick-up truck cut him off on Feb. 9 and he thought the truck might have hit his car, so he flashed his lights until the driver pulled over. He realized there was no damage, but still went up to the driver...

A driver spoke out Sunday evening, two days after recording a truck hauling scrap metal as it tipped over and lost some of its wheels on the Tappan Zee Bridge. The crash happened around 9 a.m. Friday on the northbound side of the bridge. Images from the scene showed the overturned truck with pieces of scrap metal and debris all over the roadway, and the video showed truck sending debris and two wheels flying across the road. The trailer and flying debris narrowly missed the car behind it. As CBS2’s Hazel Sanchez reported exclusively, Qing Chang of Ardsley was driving...

Dianna Montague made history when she became the first African-American woman to join the Philadelphia’s Iron Workers Union Local 405. As the chairman and CEO of Iron Lady Enterprises Inc., Montague holds the distinction of being one of the only female ironworkers in Philadelphia. She is a certified master welder, rigger and rod setter. Montague is now working on one of the nation’s largest infrastructure projects, the $3.9 billion New NY Bridge. It will replace the Tappan Zee Bridge in Hudson Valley, N.Y., and is expected to be completed in 2018. Her company is responsible for land-based rebar fabrication and...

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (R), with advisor Brian Conybeare, standing in front of a model of the new design. (Image courtesy of @NYGovCuomo)UPDATE: It’s official: New York has awarded the contract to construct the new Tappan Zee Bridge.In a press release, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo said, “the Thruway Board has selected the Tappan Zee Constructors’ plan which offers New York toll payers the biggest bang for their buck – with the best price, shortest construction time, minimal dredging, and can accommodate mass transit in the future. This is a major milestone for a bridge project that was a metaphor...

Rendering of Design Proposal 1 for the new Tappan Zee Bridge, NY, estimated to cost $3.142 billion. (New York State Thruway Authority) A selection committee has recommended a futuristic design for the new Tappan Zee Bridge, with suspension supports leaning outwards, giving the bridge the look of a stripped-down building by Santiago Calatrava.Calatrava has designed the World Trade Center transit hub, the Milwaukee Museum of Art, and the Athens Olympic stadium.The New York State Thruway Authority — the agency in charge of the project — will consider the design, along with two others, for a new Tappan Zee Bridge. The...

The federal government has approved the environmental-impact statement for a new Tappan Zee Bridge, and Gov. Cuomo said yesterday the bridge has passed “a significant milestone.” Although financing still must be arranged and permits still must be obtained, the governor said he considers federal approval the biggest hurdle. “Building the bridge is actually the easy part,” compared with getting the environmental OK, Cuomo said during a conference call with reporters. He said the state expects all three bids to be less than $5.2 billion.In October, President Barack Obama declared the bridge eligible for fast-tracked federal approvals. Cuomo praised the state’s...

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) — The cost of a new Tappan Zee Bridge in the New York City suburbs has been shaved to $5.2 billion by focusing solely on the bridge, a federal agency said Tuesday. In the past, mass transit components, ranging up to a new commuter rail line, were considered key elements of a new span over the Hudson River. President Barack Obama chose the project Monday for quick federal approval of environmental and other permits, and the Federal Highway Administration said those could be obtained within a year. Construction, creating thousands of jobs, could begin soon afterward,...

Last October, more than a year into his $787 billion stimulus program, President Obama concluded in a New York Times Magazine interview that “there’s no such thing as shovel-ready projects.” To learn why America can’t build stuff quickly (or even slowly), Obama should take a rush-hour ride over the Tappan Zee Bridge, which connects Rockland and Westchester Counties over the Hudson River, just north of New York City. The Tappan Zee exemplifies the state of America’s infrastructure in 2011. We rely on it more than ever: each year, 51 million cars, trucks, and buses traverse the seven-lane “Tap,” as locals...

AMERICA'S TOLL ROADS, BETTER KNOWN for political patronage than for strong business and financial management, suddenly are hot assets. Already, foreign companies have paid rich prices for highways in Chicago and Indiana. And similar deals could be made over the next few years for the Ohio Turnpike, the Illinois Toll Highway, several toll roads around Houston, the Atlantic City Expressway and perhaps even the New Jersey Turnpike, America's best-known toll road, featured in the opening credits of The Sopranos. Private money potentially also could fund a multibillion-dollar toll bridge that would replace the aging and congested Tappan Zee span across...

The Tappan Zee Bridge, the most critical transportation link across the Hudson River north of New York City, is not even half as old as the Brooklyn Bridge, but its warranty has already expired. Started on the cheap during the Korean War, the Tappan Zee was deliberately built to last just 50 years. It passed that milestone last month, just days after transportation planners began gathering public advice about how to fix or replace it. But the decaying, overburdened span's anniversary was more bitter than sweet. Little love has been lost between the Tappan Zee and the tens of thousands...