Bridge in White Plains Would Cost Billions

State planners estimate that a new Tappan Zee bridge would cost as much as 16 billion dollars.

By: Ryan Hartley According to planners, the replacement for the Tappan Zee Bridge would need to include a commuter rail line for mass transit usage. The cost of such a bridge is expected to hit the $16 billion mark. With that in mind, planners have recommended an alternative. Instead of immediately incorporating the rail line, the bridge would be built to support it in the future, but until then it would carry an express bus system. That one small change would mean the difference between a $16 billion debacle, and an only slightly less horrific $9.3 billion. "Times may be tough, but the future is still there and we still need to work together and build for it," said state Transportation Commissioner Astrid Glynn. The recommenbation came on the heels of a 9-year study of the old Tappan Zee, which showed that the bridge will be in desperate need of replacement within the next few years. However, Glynn says that if the state waits until immediate action is required, the economy may have recovered, and conditions may be more favorable for replacement. In case the state decides to undertake the replacement sooner, though, they have retained outside consultants to help find "creative financing" options. The proposed rail lines that would grace the bridge in the future would connect the Metro-North Hudson Line to other lines west of the river, which would allow access directly to Grand Central. Extensive tunneling would be needed to link tracks coming across the bridge with the current lines along the Hudson shoreline, due to the bridge's height over the water.