Many who called for restoring the name of the Mario Cuomo Bridge back to the Tappan Zee Bridge missed something. In 1994, then Gov. Mario Cuomo changed the name to Malcolm Wilson Tappan Zee Bridge. Wilson was elected lieutenant governor with Nelson Rockefeller in 1958 on the Republican ticket. Rockefeller resigned as governor in 1973 to assume the Office of Vice President under President Gerald Ford. Wilson became the governor. He subsequently lost in 1974 race for a full term to Democrat Hugh Carey.
Cuomo always intended to use toll hikes to pay for the $3.9 billion construction costs. He made a political calculation by promising not to raise the tolls when running in 2018. To pay back the $1.6 billion Federal Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Improvement Act loan and $1 billion Thruway Authority Bond, tolls will periodically go up. How long will it take to completely pay off both loans?
There is still the ongoing construction contractors lawsuit against the State Thruway Authority for $961 million, plus interest for the additional incurred costs for work not compensated. This includes overtime for project schedule acceleration and change orders to the base contract for additional work.
Cuomo’s departure from Albany leaves taxpayers and commuters stuck paying higher fares, taxes and tolls in coming years to pay for the bridge regardless of the name.
Larry Penner
Great Neck
(Larry Penner is a transportation advocate, historian and writer who previously worked for the Federal Transit Administration Region 2 NY Office. This included the review, approval and oversight for billions of dollars in grants to the MTA which funded LIRR, Metro North, NYC Transit, MTA Bus capital projects and programs along with 30 other transit operators in NY & NJ)
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