Tap study due
Aging structure gets its closeup
By BRYAN F. YURCAN
A preliminary recommendation by the
state Department of Transportation on a preferred mass
transit mode or modes for the I-287 corridor should
be issued in the next few weeks.
Tappan Zee Bridge Project Team Leader Mike Anderson
said the DOT, which is heading the project, “is working
toward that timeline.”
Earlier this year, the project team announced that
its preferred transit mode would be announced in May.
The project team is comprised of representatives of
the state Department of Transportation, Thruway Authority
and Metro-North Railroad.
“We’re a little behind schedule,” said Anderson. “But
we are continuing to work on it and expect an announcement
in the next few weeks.”
The state is exploring several different transit options
for the corridor, including bus, light rail, or a multi-modal
mass transit system.
Any mass transit mode that is implemented for the corridor
would likely include the building of a new Tappan Zee
Bridge.
The New York Metropolitan Transportation Council has
projected that the Tappan Zee could have 200,000 vehicles
traveling across it daily by 2025. Built in 1955, the
bridge was designed to handle 85,000 vehicles a day.
Depending on what transit option is chosen, estimates
range from $12 to $15 billion to complete the project,
the state said last year.
Anderson said the project team has been reviewing the
public comments made over the past year or so during
forums about the future of the I-287 corridor.
He said after the project team issues its preliminary
recommendations, it will conduct further public hearings
to get input.
“We want to get input on everything we do,” Anderson
said. “We intend to continue to enhance public participation.”
After that, the preliminary recommendations could be
further revised.
“They could be subject to change, that’s a possibility,”
said Anderson.
According to the project schedule as it currently stands,
a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) on the
chosen transit option is to be published in the summer
of 2009, followed by public hearings in the fall of
2009.
The project schedule anticipates a federal decision
on the initial DEIS in April 2010, including formal
Records of Decision on the preliminary transit analysis
and the complete highway and bridge analysis. The second
EIS developing mass transit specifics is scheduled
to begin as soon as the decision on the first is received.
The alternatives currently being discussed for the
future of the bridge and corridor include a “no build
option” where the current bridge would continue to
be maintained; another option keeps the current bridge
but adds “travel demand management measures,” such
as congestion pricing and ramp metering, which uses
signals to control the number of vehicles that can
enter the highway.
The other options include implementing either a bus
rapid transit system, light rail, or multi-modal system
featuring both. Meantime, a $5.4 million study unveiled
this month at Stewart International Airport is investigating
to recommend whether west-of-the-Hudson rail traffic
should run through the new NJ Transit rail tunnel into
downtown Manhattan, among other options.
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