Westchester County Business Journal TZ Bridge/I-287 corridor funding document in progress
TZ Bridge/I-287 corridor funding document in progress
The real key to the Tappan Zee Bridge/I-287 corridor is money. And lots of it. A bridge financing study is now “moving forward” and an initiative has been launched to provide transit-oriented development training for municipalities along the corridor from Suffern in Rockland to Port Chester in Westchester.
The initiative is a collaboration between the state Department of Transportation (DOT), the lead agency managing the study, New York State Thruway Authority and MTA Metro-North Railroad in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA).
The technical assistance program is called “Transit-Oriented Development – Building Quality Communities around Transit.
"The Tappan Zee Bridge/I-287 Corridor impacts municipalities throughout the lower Hudson Valley and is a vital transportation artery for thousands of daily commuters, supporting some of the highest traffic volumes in New York state,” said Thruway Authority Executive Director Michael R. Fleischer. “The Authority looks forward to working with local communities on the transit-oriented development initiative to improve the area’s transportation network and make travel throughout the corridor more efficient and user-friendly."
The first meetings were held on June 23 and 24 in Rockland and Westchester. Training will begin in the fall with two countywide workshops. Eight additional two-day, in-depth sessions are planned for the selected municipalities in the spring of 2010.
“We know that the financing study is moving forward, which is absolutely key to this project,” said Marsha Gordon, president and CEO of The Business Council of Westchester and the Westchester co-chairperson of the Tappan Zee Bridge Task Force.
“While that’s going on, there’s a lot happening in terms of planning the mass transit routes and a lot of coordination with the communities and the county Planning Department as well. We’ll have more of an update from the DOT later in July.”
Gordon said plans for the proposed bridge – $16 billion price tag is one figure making the rounds – will include bus rapid transit (BRT) from east to west.
“BRT is something that can be implemented very quickly after a new bridge is built,” Gordon said.
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