Tappan Zee Bridge opening ceremony scheduled

ALBANY - A ceremony to open the first span of the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement is set for Thursday morning.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and several local dignitaries will celebrate the first phase of the $3.9 billion project at 11 a.m.

"I've been invited," said South Nyack Mayor Bonnie Christian, whose village is the Rockland County terminus of both the old and new bridges.

Christian, a Democrat who fought against the state Thruway Authority's plan to end the new bridge's walking and biking path on village streets, said she had received no "formal invitation" and that she expects it to be a small ceremony.

Cuomo said last week the ceremony will simply celebrate the opening of the new span. Another ceremony naming the new bridge the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge will be a separate event. The bridge project is expected to be completed sometime next year.

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"We are going to celebrate the opening of the span. But next year, I want to do the naming ceremony, which will be more of a celebration, if you will," Cuomo told the USA Today Network's Albany Bureau.

In addition to Christian, Rockland County Executive Ed Day, Clarkstown town Supervisor George Hoehmann and Nyack Mayor Jen Laird-White will also be in attendance.

On the Westchester side of the river, Tarrytown Mayor Drew Fixell and Greenburgh town Supervisor Paul Feiner received invitations.

"I think it's exciting to be part of local history," said Feiner.

While the roster of invitees does not seem to suggest Thursday's event will be a partisan affair — Day and Hoehmann are Republicans while the remainder are Democrats, like Cuomo — Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino's office said it had heard nothing. Cuomo's office said he was invited.

Astorino challenged Cuomo for the governor's office in 2014 and is reportedly interested in doing so again.

The dignitaries will be bused from Tarrytown to the new span for the Thursday ceremony.

But actual traffic from the north side of the current bridge, from Westchester to Rockland, will not shift until Friday night, beginning at 9 p.m. The shift will also necessitate the closure of the Rockland-bound on-ramp at Exit 9 in Tarrytown and the Westchester-bound Exit 10 in South Nyack.

All lanes are expected to be open to traffic no later than 8 a.m. Saturday.

Traffic from Rockland into Westchester will stay on the old bridge for several weeks, officials have said, before shifting over, too.

Cuomo said the event will highlight that New York didn't run from the challenge of opening a new $4 billion, 3-mile span to replace the deteriorating current bridge, which opened in 1955.

The bridge is one of the nation's largest infrastructure projects.

"I think what made it come to fruition is a lot of smart and hard work," Cuomo said. "It’s not a secret. What’s the formula for success in life? Don’t run from the challenge, be smart and work very hard. And that’s what we did."