The Tappan Zee Bridge Replacement as Proxy for Bureacracy
Posted by Jonathan J. Miller -Monday, May 23, 2011, 12:14 PM
Comments Off
Here’s a sobering City Journal (love the pub and iPad app!) article on the state of the “The Tappan Zee Is Falling Down” – the replacement of the Tappan Zee Bridge crossing the Hudson River and connecting Westchester and Rockland County New York.
The Tappan Zee exemplifies the state of America’s infrastructure in 2011. We rely on it more than ever: each year, 51 million cars, trucks, and buses traverse the seven-lane “Tap,” as locals call it. More people commute over it than through the Lincoln or the Holland Tunnel, both of which cross the river to the south. Yet New York outgrew the bridge decades ago, with today’s traffic far exceeding the structure’s designed capacity. Worse, the Tappan Zee is a disaster in slow motion.
The bridge has several decades too old and undergoes continuous renovations. I thought the stimulus package would accelerate construction of roads and bridges but alas, the process is bogged down by the same federal government that brought us the stimulus package.
Its a key regional asset that impacts the economy and as an extension, the housing market.
Bridge naming: Tappan Indian tribe, + Dutch word for “sea”.
