The New Tappan Zee Bridge Opens in New York

By Matthew McMullan
Aug 28 2017 |
Photo by Stephen Nessen

It’s American-made, and now called the Gov. Mario Cuomo Bridge.

We got a new bridge, everybody.

After four years of construction, the $4 billion replacement for the Tappan Zee Bridge over the Hudson River in New York has opened. This new bridge (rechristened the Gov. Mario Cuomo Bridge) will ultimately consist of two separate spans for east- and westbound traffic. Right now, the westbound traffic travels over a newly completed span.

The eastbound traffic still temporarily uses the old Tappan Zee. That will be the case until later this fall, when two-way traffic will shift entirely to the new span and the old Tappan Zee is demolished. The traffic will split again in 2018 when the second new span is completed.

The governor is pleased:

The locals are pleased:

And so are we. This bridge was made with American-made steel. A lot of it came from a fabricator in Pennsylvania, High Steel, and more still came from ArcelorMittal USA’s plate mills in Pennsylvania and Indiana.

That’s a lot of American work for an American infrastructure project that came in on-time and on-budget. That’s unlike California's San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge that the then-governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger … 

… outsourced to a Chinese state-owned enterprise to keep costs down. That project was marred by delays, quality concerns, and a much larger bill than anticipated.  

Good on the state of New York for getting this big infrastructure project done right.