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Gov revs up ‘spirit of FDR’ on new Kosciuszko
GOV. CUOMO invoked the spirit of Franklin Delano Roosevelt — and brought along the former President’s car — to open the new Kosciuszko Bridge on Thursday.
Cuomo arrived at the bridge’s ribbon-cutting ceremony driving Roosevelt’s 1932 Packard, which the governor recently had removed from a state museum and restored.
The governor said he wanted to “bring the spirit” of Roosevelt to the new bridge, which his administration is hailing as the first major span built in the city in 53 years.
“That spirit is what made New York, New York, and that’s the spirit that we have to rekindle in this state,” Cuomo said.
The new bridge, constructed at a cost of $555 million, is the first of two spans being constructed to replace the 78-yearold Kosciuszko, which spans Newtown Creek and connects Greenpoint, Brooklyn, with Maspeth, Queens.
Once the existing bridge is removed, the second bridge, intended for Brooklyn-bound traffic, will be constructed in its place. It is projected to open in 2020.
Traffic on the new span was to start flowing at 11:30 p.m. Thursday. It will carry traffic in both directions until the second bridge is constructed.
The opening had motorists hopeful of fewer traffic jams on the span.
“Oh, that’s a good thing. The traffic is too bad there,” said Nurul Islam, 61, a green taxi driver from Woodside, Queens.
Islam said he often spends two or three hours of his shift stuck in bridge traffic.
Tony Cruz, 48, a delivery driver for a Sunnyside, Queens, restaurant who drives across the bridge five days a week, was also optimistic.
“We have a lot of customers in Brooklyn. Time for drivers is very important,” Cruz said. “Less time for crossing . . . is beautiful.”
Cruz said it took at least 45 minutes to get across the old bridge, but he hopes the new bridge will cut the trip to 20 minutes.
“This is a good answer to heavy traffic,” he said.
The new bridge is also the first span in the city to feature a synchronized LED lighting system, which Cuomo was set to unveil at 8 p.m.
It’s part of Cuomo’s “New York Harbor of Lights” initiative that will include all seven MTA-operated bridges and tunnels and the Port Authority’s George Washington Bridge.
Cuomo hopes the light displays will become a tourist attraction.
The bridge is named for Tadeusz Kosciuszko, a Polish military officer who became a hero of the American Revolution.
Cuomo, a Queens native, said the old bridge had become legendary for its massive delays.
“I spent my childhood going back and forth across the bridge with our family,” Cuomo said. “The first time I heard my father use expletives was on this bridge.”