Metro North WOH Rail Options Using the Tappan Zee Bridge TZB

It seems the Governor is out of touch with reality...both forms of Transit are needed ...fastracking anything in this region has shown us that nothing good comes of it and problems surface...down the road.

Maybe the Governor is only one sane, what programs should be cut to build a bridge.
The state is broke, yet no one believes it, the taxpayers expect the government to keep spending $$$$ like drunken sailors.

DutchRailnut wrote:Maybe the Governor is only one sane, what programs should be cut to build a bridge.
The state is broke, yet no one believes it, the taxpayers expect the government to keep spending $$$$ like drunken sailors.

So you build a bridge with no real capacity increase , that ends up costing the state millions and probably billions in congestion and lost tax revenue.

DutchRailnut wrote:Maybe the Governor is only one sane, what programs should be cut to build a bridge.

Sadly you may be right.

Nexis4Jersey wrote:

DutchRailnut wrote:Maybe the Governor is only one sane, what programs should be cut to build a bridge.
The state is broke, yet no one believes it, the taxpayers expect the government to keep spending $$$$ like drunken sailors.

So you build a bridge with no real capacity increase , that ends up costing the state millions and probably billions in congestion and lost tax revenue.

So you sugest we cut programs for elderly and disabled, close schools and social programs, just to built a bridge ??
I hope the voters do that to you, when you may need those programs in future.

DutchRailnut wrote:

Nexis4Jersey wrote:

DutchRailnut wrote:Maybe the Governor is only one sane, what programs should be cut to build a bridge.
The state is broke, yet no one believes it, the taxpayers expect the government to keep spending $$$$ like drunken sailors.

So you build a bridge with no real capacity increase , that ends up costing the state millions and probably billions in congestion and lost tax revenue.

So you sugest we cut programs for elderly and disabled, close schools and social programs, just to built a bridge ??
I hope the voters do that to you, when you may need those programs in future.

Well don't build the bridge , you either build it right with Mass Transit in , or don't build it at all...

current bridge won't survive much longer, so at minimum a design, the bridge will have to be equal to current one.

DutchRailnut wrote:current bridge won't survive much longer, so at minimum a design, the bridge will have to be equal to current one.

And the New one won't solve anything....and down the road will need to be overhauled for Transit...

It still solves the issue of not having another I-35W collapse, only worse.

There's two distinct issues with the current Tappan Zee Bridge: its condition due to age and its capacity. Ideall, the replacement bridge would address both.

But if, for budget reasons, only one can be addressed, then the basic safety of not having a worn-out bridge, increasingly in danger of catastrophic failure, is paramount.

We cannot delay and continue to put thousands of lives in jeopardy daily any more. Period. By the time any replacement is up, the current bridge will have been in use for 40% longer than it was intended. It must be replaced. Delaying for an ill-thought-out commuter rail connection is stupid.

oknazevad wrote:By the time any replacement is up, the current bridge will have been in use for 40% longer than it was intended.

I realize this is getting off-topic. But a while back the bridge's chief engineer said Thruway authorities were baffled as to how the story got started that the original bridge was supposed to have a service life of fifty years. He said they did an internal document search but were never able to find any reference that when the bridge was built a finite service life was specified.

The I-35 bridge's failure and collapse seems widely misunderstood as well. The bridge was actually being rehabbed when it came down. Crews had removed too many support beams.

support beams great, the tappan zee bridge is sitting on almost nothing.
the wood pilings are totally eaten/rotted due to changing silt level and attack by marine worms.
yet this site denies that:
http://www.thruway.ny.gov/projectsandst ... about.html

yet when there is smoke there is fire right ??

and
http://www.city-journal.org/2011/21_2_t ... ridge.html

according to the Department of Transportation, current conditions requiring modification include “diaphragm beam cracks,” “bearing deterioration,” “column top deterioration,” “column base deterioration,” and “cross-beam deterioration.” You don’t have to be an engineer to know that those things aren’t good.

I follow Rob Astorino on Facebook; he seems to be very pragmatic.

I think the issue here is that while transit was not going to get built for a good, long while (it's always been an LTA/long-term alternative), the EIS process to date had included it. Now, that process is lost, and transit is back to square one. They could have built the bridge with capacity for transit later, and kept it in the EIS process, so that later, if funds were available, they could just dust it off and update it.

What you have here is an incredibly stupid bureaucrat from the novel 1984 using "doublespeak". Keeping the transit option in the EIS was not going to prevent the vehicular bridge(s) from being built.

oknazevad wrote:It still solves the issue of not having another I-35W collapse, only worse.

There's two distinct issues with the current Tappan Zee Bridge: its condition due to age and its capacity. Ideall, the replacement bridge would address both.

But if, for budget reasons, only one can be addressed, then the basic safety of not having a worn-out bridge, increasingly in danger of catastrophic failure, is paramount.

We cannot delay and continue to put thousands of lives in jeopardy daily any more. Period. By the time any replacement is up, the current bridge will have been in use for 40% longer than it was intended. It must be replaced. Delaying for an ill-thought-out commuter rail connection is stupid.

Whats wrong the commuter rail plan , i thought it was very well planned. What issues do you have with it? And what are your plans to solve the growing traffic congestion and population growth west of the hudson.... Rail is the only option left , the bus system is starting to crack and can't handle much more...most of that is Rockland county...

problem I got is, I do not want to leave my children and grand children the bill for this bridge.

DutchRailnut wrote:problem I got is, I do not want to leave my children and grand children the bill for this bridge.

Oh please , the cost of the full CRT / BRT / HWY / BRG is tiny compared to the amount dumped into Defense and Medicare and Pensions..... And my Generation is only trying to fix your generations many many mistakes and errors which have ruined this country. Hench why i'm going to go to College for Urban Planning next year , its a field where i can help fix the damage past generations have done.