New Yorkers win at bridge

ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo on Thursday morning celebrated the opening of the first span of the new Tappan Zee Bridge, which will be named after his father.

“After 20 years of false starts, we are leaving an old, dangerous, traumatizing bridge as replaced by a new, safer, smarter structure,” Cuomo said at the ribbon-cutting event. “This bridge will handle more traffic. It will move it faster, on more lanes.”

The four-lane westbound span over the Hudson River heading into Rockland County will be open for traffic beginning Friday. The Westchester County-bound span is set to open next year.

The new Tappan Zee bridge — the largest current infrastructure project in the country and the first major bridge built in New York in decades — will be named the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge after the governor’s late father, a three-term New York governor.

While Cuomo celebrated the longawaited bridge, others were critical that he still hasn’t spelled out exactly how the $4 billion structure will be funded. “He still owes New Yorkers truthful answers to these questions,” said state GOP Chairman Ed Cox.