25 August, 2017
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, son of the bridge's namesake, says four lanes of Rockland-bound traffic will start crossing the first span of the bridge late Friday night into Saturday morning.
A portion of a new 3-mile-long bridge, connecting Westchester County to the New York State Thruway, will open overnight if weather allows on Friday.
Recently named the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge, the span will connect Westchester and Rockland counties.
After four years of construction and almost $4 billion drawn from the federal government, bonds, and corporate settlements following the financial crisis, the first span of the new Tappan Zee replacement, the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge will open to Westbound traffic some time late Friday.
Construction on the twin span is ongoing and is expected to be complete sometime next year.
"Today, my father does smile down on us", Andrew Cuomo said. The Tappan Zee had served as the poster child for crumbling infrastructure. Mario Cuomo served three terms as governor and died in 2015. Do I open the window?' I had one of those special tools with the hammer and the seatbelt cutter.
He added, "What the New Tappan Zee says is we can still do great things".
Those in attendance included 96-year-old World War II veteran Armando "Chick" Galella, of Sleepy Hollow, who survived the attack on Pearl Harbor.
"The Thruway will not subsidize the (new) Tappan Zee Bridge", Cuomo said. The 3-mile bridge linking Westchester County to the New York State Thruway across the widest point in the Hudson is one of the largest public infrastructure projects underway in the USA and a model of the latest engineering.