Tappan Zee Bridge

The Tappan Zee Bridge is a bridge in the Hudson Valley region of New York. It is three miles long. It goes across the Hudson River. It connects Westchester and Rockland Counties. The bridge opened in 1955. It took traffic from other bridges and ferries in the area. The bridge is about 25 miles (40 km) north of New York City. The city can be seen from the bridge on a clear day. The bridge carries seven lanes of the New York State Thruway.

Governor Malcolm Wilson Tappan Zee Bridge
The Tappan Zee Bridge in 2020
Coordinates	41°04′12″N 73°53′28″W
Carries	7 lanes (3 northbound/westbound, 3 southbound/eastbound, 1 reversible) of I-87 / I-287 / New York Thruway
Crosses	Hudson River
Locale	Connecting Grand View-on-Hudson, Rockland County, New York and Tarrytown, Westchester County, New York in the Lower Hudson Valley
Official name	Governor Malcolm Wilson Tappan Zee Bridge
Maintained by	New York State Thruway Authority
Characteristics
Design	Cantilever bridge
Total length	16,013 feet (4,881 m; 3 mi)
Width	90 feet (27 m)
Longest span	1,212 feet (369 m)
Clearance below	138 feet (42 m)
History
Opened	December 14, 1955
Destroyed	January 15, 2019 (eastern span) May 12, 2019 (western span)
Closed	October 6, 2017
Replaced by	Mario M. Cuomo Bridge
Statistics
Daily traffic	134,947 (2010)[1]
Location

The bridge is named for a Native American tribe from the area called the "Tappan". Zee is the Dutch word for "sea", as the bridge crosses water.

At the beginning of the 21st century the bridge was old and too small for the traffic. People in the region argued for years for a new bridge, which replaced the old one in 2017. The old bridge was demolished in January 2019.

Construction of new bridge

In 2013, the New York State Thruway Authority began building the New Tappan Zee Bridge. It will be a double-span bridge (four lanes per span in opposite directions) with designated bus lanes.^[2]The new bridge opened to traffic on August 26, 2017 for the westbound/northbound span. The eastbound/southbound span opened on September 11, 2018. The new span carries 10 lanes (4 lanes and with a bus lane in each direction) along with 2 pedestrian/bicycle lanes.

An October 14, 2012, Newsday article reports the Tappan Zee Bridge has been referred to as the Golden Gate Bridge of the East because of many suicide jumpers. The article says "The new Tappan Zee, which is in the works, will include fencing designed to thwart jumpers."^[3]

References

1. "2010 Traffic Data Report for New York State" (PDF). New York State Department of Transportation. Appendix C. Retrieved February 27, 2010.
2. "Official New Tappan Zee Bridge Project Site". Archived from the original on 2021-05-08. Retrieved 2016-07-05.
3. TIMOTHY O'CONNOR (14 October 2012). "High anxiety: Trooper fights fear to save would-be Tappan Zee jumpers". Newsday. Retrieved 16 October 2012.

The superstructure of the old bridge was constructed during a time of material shortages during the Korean War.