MTR 317, Hudson Valley Execs on Hot Seat Before T-Z Study Vote

Issue 317

May 14, 2001

Hudson Valley Execs on Hot Seat Before T-Z Study Vote

The Village of Nyack last Thursday adopted a resolution calling on Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef to attach conditions to his approval of the "Tappan Zee Bridge Alternatives Analysis."

On Thursday, May 17, the NY Metropolitan Transportation Council will vote to approve the Tappan Zee "major investment study." The Council's voting rules, which require unanimous approval, put the Rockland and Westchester County Executives in strong positions to influence the Tappan Zee study.

Nyack's resolution urges Vanderhoef to obtain the following agreement in writing from the Thruway Authority and the MTA:

1. That any project will not include the widening of the Thruway in Rockland County

2. No new bridge will be built without a concurrent, funded rail transit project.

3. A new bridge will not have any more than eight lanes of vehicular traffic.

4. Independent structural and transit feasibility analyses will occur.

5. Restoration of West Shore Rail passenger rail service will be supported and funded by the Metropolitan Transit Authority.

The resolution resembles an April letter sent to Vanderhoef by the Tri-State Campaign. Because the Tappan Zee study is unlikely to come before the Metropolitan Transportation Council again, it is timely for the Hudson Valley county executives to use their strong bargaining position to get what they can out of the process.

So far, however, Vanderhoef's office has said it is not inclined to use this power. This is unfortunate, since the opportunity gives the county executive a real opportunity to implement in concrete terms a set of demands he articulated last year. At a public meeting in May, 2000, Vanderhoef called for a guarantee that any new bridge would include transit, and said he would fight against addition of new highway lanes. He has also been a long-time supporter of restoring passenger service on the West Shore rail line.

The Council's unanimity procedure does of course put any voting member in a strong position any time they are sufficiently disgruntled about a transportation-related matter, because members can block any number of proceedings and approvals until satisfied. In 1997, for instance, Mayor Giuliani refused to approve the Council's overall regional transportation program, potentially jeopardizing federal transportation assistance throughout the region, in order to win concessions from the Port Authority on airport transit issues (MTR #143). In 1994, former Westchester County Executive Andrew O'Rourke threatened to veto the regional program until the MTA agreed to a full environmental impact statement for its Harlem Line third track project (MTR #4).