Press Releases
For Immediate Release: Thursday, February 7, 2008
Contact: Jennifer Post
New York State Department of Transportation
518-457-6400
TAPPAN ZEE BRIDGE PUBLIC MEETINGS SCHEDULED
Sessions To Be Held in Westchester, Orange and Rockland Counties
New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) Commissioner Astrid C. Glynn today announced public meetings on the Tappan Zee Bridge/I-287 Corridor Project for February 26, 27 and 28, 2008 in Westchester, Orange and Rockland counties, respectively. The meetings are intended to be formal forums for sharing project-related information and obtaining public comments.
“We have developed a means of advancing this project on a more predictable schedule and at the same time assure that transit will become an integral part of the solution for the future,” Commissioner Glynn said. “This latest round of public meetings provides another opportunity to update local communities about the project’s progress and helps us continue to expand our outreach efforts.”
NYSDOT is the lead agency managing the corridor study, in coordination with MTA Metro-North Railroad and the State Thruway Authority and in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration.
The public meetings, part of an extensive environmental review process, will supplement meetings held in 2003 and reflect changes in the review process since then. Those developments include a new federal law designed to streamline the environmental review process, increase public participation and expedite project delivery. In addition, NYSDOT has an enhanced role in leading the project, new options have been developed for some project design alternatives and final screening criteria have been compiled for evaluating transit and river crossing alternatives.
The meetings will be held at the following times and locations:
Westchester County - Tuesday, February 26, 2008, 4 to 9 p.m.
The Performing Arts Center
Purchase College
State University of New York
735 Anderson Hill Road
Purchase, NY
Orange County - Wednesday, February 27, 2008, 4 to 9 p.m.
Orange-Ulster BOCES
Emanuel Axelrod Special Education Center
53 Gibson Road
Goshen, NY
Rockland County - Thursday, February 28, 2008, 4 to 9 p.m.
Palisades Center
Adler and Raso Rooms
1000 Palisades Center Drive
West Nyack, NY
The project study team will make formal presentations at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. each evening, and the public will have an opportunity to make comments or submit them in writing at these meetings. The sessions give the public another chance to comment on the project alternatives and potential issues to be evaluated during the environmental review.
There also will be an open house at each of the events from 4 to 9 p.m., where community members will be able review study-related materials, including maps, drawings and an information packet on the planned scope of the project. Project team members also will be on hand to answer questions.
Attendees requiring special accommodations (e.g., those with disabilities, language barriers or who have impairments to effective participation) are asked to contact the project office at 914-358-0600 to make special arrangements.
The Tappan Zee Bridge/I-287 Environmental Review is exploring regional transportation alternatives within the 30-mile I-287 corridor between Suffern and Port Chester. The partnering agencies -- NYSDOT, Metro-North and the State Thruway Authority -- are studying how best to address the immediate needs of one of the corridor's most important infrastructure elements, the Tappan Zee Bridge, and associated regional congestion and mobility opportunities.
The three-mile-long, seven-lane Tappan Zee Bridge carries the New York State Thruway across the Hudson River, making it a vital transportation link in the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut region. The corridor serves as a major commuter route between Orange and Rockland counties on the west and Westchester County and southeastern Connecticut on the east.
State Transportation Commissioner Glynn last month announced a new procedural approach to the project study that will expedite review and implementation of the project and allow significant cost savings as a result. It calls for sequencing the environmental review process in two parts and expanding public outreach efforts in the project’s initial phases.
The initial Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) will evaluate plans for improving the 1-287 corridor (including the Tappan Zee Bridge) and assess transit options for the corridor, identifying a mass transit mode for the corridor, its general route and its beginning and end points. The second EIS will focus on the details of integrating that mass transit mode into the communities it will serve, including route specifics and transit station locations and designs, allowing for enhanced public input into decisions affecting the quality of community life. A final decision on the first EIS will kick off work on the second.