On March 5, 2012, the Irvington Board of Trustees adopted a resolution in support of public transportation on the New Tappan Zee Bridge. The Comment Period on the DEIS has been extended to March 30, 2012.
RESOLUTION 2012-017
IN SUPPORT OF PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION ON THE NEW TAPPAN ZEE BRIDGE
ADOPTED MARCH 5, 2012
Trustee Kehoe offered the following resolution, which was seconded by Trustee Bernstein and adopted:
WHEREAS, the inclusion of public transportation has been a central feature of the Tappan Zee Bridge Replacement Project (the “TZB Replacement”) since the launch of formal environmental review in 2002 and before. After receiving detailed public input in 280 meetings and data generated over 10 years, all five alternatives and all but the “No Build” alternative for the TZB Replacement included transit; and
WHEREAS, New York State and the federal government, after years of public input and broad consensus on the inclusion of public transportation in the TZB Replacement, have abruptly decided to pursue a replacement without transit and have re-started the environmental review process based on an alternative lacking public transportation; and
WHEREAS, approximately 138,000 vehicles travel across the Tappan Zee Bridge every day, which is far more than the bridge was designed to handle when it was built in 1955. This number is expected to increase significantly in the coming years, and, without public transportation, the TZB Replacement would not result in increases in peak-direction capacity or long term operational changes to traffic patterns. Absent improvements, travel times across the Tappan Zee Bridge/I-287 corridor (the “Corridor”) are expected to grow by as much as 70 percent; and
WHEREAS, the development of public transportation as part of the TZB Replacement is central to relieving congestion in the I-287 Corridor and local arterials, improving air quality, achieving sustainability goals, reducing dependence on fossil fuels, improving pedestrian safety, and improving motorist travel time, in Westchester and New York State; and
WHEREAS, residents of Irvington and other communities in the Tappan Zee Bridge service area would be burdened by many years of unnecessarily increasing traffic if transit infrastructure is not included in the TZB Replacement; and
WHEREAS, Westchester County is planning its own Bus Rapid Transit (“BRT”) routes along Central Avenue which would benefit by and become more effective by eventually interconnecting to BRT or other public transportation on the Tappan Zee Bridge; and
WHEREAS, including public transportation in the TZB Replacement is consistent with and advances the purposes of numerous state, county and federal government policies aimed at reducing dependence on foreign oil, air pollution and the emission of greenhouse gases, including the New York State Climate Action Plan, the Westchester Action Plan for Climate Change, and federal goals enshrined in the Clean Air Act, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act, Executive Order 13514 and elsewhere; now therefore be it
RESOLVED, that the Village of Irvington, acting through its Board of Trustees hereby:
1) calls upon Governor Cuomo, the New York State Department of Transportation, the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Authority to restore dedicated public transportation infrastructure to its long-held place in any and all plans for the replacement of the Tappan Zee Bridge.
2) calls upon other affected communities and municipalities to let their opinion be known to Governor Cuomo and the relevant agencies and representatives of New York State and the federal government on this critical decision that will impact quality of life for decades to come.
3) pledges to join with other affected municipalities to participate fully in the TZB Replacement planning process to ensure that the TZB Replacement when built will be fully consistent with the important concerns and objectives clearly expressed by the citizenry over the many years of the TZB Replacement planning process.
FURTHER RESOLVED, that absent the necessary dedicated public transportation infrastructure in the TZB Replacement project, the Irvington Board of Trustees hereby calls upon Governor Cuomo and the New York State Department of Transportation to immediately commence an additional project to study and build a public transportation system to serve the entire I-287 Corridor for the reasons set forth herein.
The foregoing resolution was adopted upon roll call as follows:
AYES: Mayor Smith
Trustee Bernstein
Trustee Kehoe
Trustee Montgomery
Trustee Rasulo
NOES: None
Comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Tappan Zee Hudson River Crossing Projected will be accepted until Friday, March 30, 2012 as follows:
e-mail: tzbsite@dot.state.ny.us
fax: 845-454-7443
mail: Michael P. Anderson, Project Director, NYS Dept. of Transportation, 4 Burnett Boulevard, Poughkeepsie, NY 12603