Cuomo Touts New Tappan Zee Bridge At Budget Signing In Purchase

PURCHASE, NY (CBSNewYork) - New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo continued his tour of ceremonial budget signings Thursday with a stop in Purchase.

WCBS 880's Marla Diamond On The Story 

Last week, the Legislature passed its second straight on-time budget.

Cuomo told the crowd at Manhattanville College about the $1.2 billion in new spending to accelerate road and bridge repair and highlighted the current plan to replace the aging Tappan Zee Bridge, which spans the Hudson River between Rockland and Westchester counties, WCBS 880 Marla Diamond reported.

"They've been talking about replacing the Tappan Zee Bridge since I think I was diapers," Cuomo said.

The governor also said government had been paralyzed. "Well, those days are over. We're going to rebuild the Tappan Zee Bridge. We're going to do it now. We're going to create jobs and we're going to make it safe and better for the people of the state of New York."

Cuomo added that cost overruns will be avoided by having one outside firm design and build the bridge.

The old span will remain open during construction of the new bridge, which is expected to start in August and take five years. Bids for the bridge are being awarded this spring.

The governor said the new bridge will be mass transit ready.

As for actually putting a train on it, Cuomo said New York doesn't have the money.

"[It] costs multiple billions of dollars and I haven't heard any ideas on where we would get the multiple billions of dollars," said Cuomo.

Many have said that a new bridge is pointless without a mass transit route across the Hudson River.

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