New Tappan Zee Bridge nears opening date, so what's left to do?

The opening of the first phase of the massive Tappan Zee Bridge replacement project is fast approaching, with a likely August date in sight.

Earlier this month, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the first span of the $3.9 billion bridge — now known as the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge — will likely open in August, and the work being done on the bridge these days reflects that.

Crews have moved on to tasks like paving, erecting overhead gantries and testing lights to ready the bridge for the 138,000 cars daily that will make the shift.

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Meanwhile, the bridge picked up a new official name and the  New York State Thruway Authority has decided what to do with certain pieces once the current bridge is taken apart.

The work being done now is a far cry from concrete piers rising from the Hudson River or the Left Coast Lifter super crane hoisting massive, thousand-ton steel girders into place. Yet it is these mundane finishing touches crucial to getting traffic moving over the Hudson River just a few weeks from now, marking the historic opening of the 3.1 mile span.

In late March, the gap in the middle of the 1,200 foot long main span was closed, making an unbroken, approximately 3 mile long structure across the Hudson River.

But in order for cars, trucks and other vehicles to actually get on it, the bridge needs to be connected to I-287 ahead of the August lane shift.

In June, the Rockland approach was connected to I-287, while crews began similar work, installing rebar to connect the Westchester approach to the highway.

The Tappan Zee Constructors, the group of contractors tasked with designing and building the bridge, also need to stripe the driving surface.

Additionally, crews are still installing noise barriers along the westbound bridge.

When the 96-foot wide span opens, it will carry both eastbound and westbound traffic over eight, 12-foot lanes, four in each direction.

Traffic will split when the entire bridge opens some time in 2018 and a portion of the westbound span will become the walking and biking path.

Gantries and signs

In total, there will be eight gantries on the westbound span of the new Tappan Zee Bridge. Those will hold electronic signs over the roadway, relaying messages to drivers, informing them of lane closures and accidents on the bridge.

Additionally, the gantries will house technology to help the Thruway Authority monitor conditions on the bridge, part of its Intelligent Transportation Systems set up that includes roadway sensors, weather monitoring, and traffic cameras.

By the end of May, crews had installed many of the gantries on the westbound side and were finishing off installation.

As for the electronic signs, testing has started and will continue periodically as the westbound span nears completion.

What's in a name?

One of the burning questions residents had about the new bridge is what it would be called.

Some political maneuvering on the part of the current Gov. Cuomo got the bridge named after his father, Mario, who reportedly only ever wanted "a stickball court in a little alley in Queens," named after him.

Lower Hudson Valley residents are not happy about it. A poll from conservative watchdog group Reclaim New York found 53 percent of polled Westchester and Rockland residents disapprove of the new name, 43 percent strongly. Only 16.1 percent strongly approved.

In the past, residents have floated several options, from keeping the current name in place to naming it after late folk singer Pete Seeger to the Brown Paige O'Grady Bridge, the names of the three men killed in the 1981 Brinks truck robbery in Nyack.

The poll asked about those names, and 43 percent favored the current name. Another 18 percent favored fallen police officers or veterans. Nearly 8 percent wanted the state to sell the name to a corporate bidder.

The Tappan Zee Bridge lives on

When traffic shifts over, crews will begin demolishing the Tappan Zee Bridge while finishing off the Mario Cuomo Bridge.

Thruway and project officials have said they would recycle as much of the old bridge as possible. Part of that is selling portions of its deck and barrier system to counties around the state and New York City for $1.

The deck panels number 150 and eight counties have requested them. The deck panels were installed in 2007 amidst much-needed repair work on the bridge. The barrier system will go to New York City for use in Brooklyn or Queens.

Thruway Authority Acting Executive Director Bill Finch said the rest of the bridge could be used as a bulwark against storms and coastal flooding, but no final decision has been made for the rest of it.

Gannett Albany Bureau Chief Joseph Spector contributed to this report

Twitter: @coynereports

By the numbers

3.1: The length of the new bridge, in miles

4: The number of traffic lanes in each direction

6: The number of belvederes, or rest points, on the shared use path

8: The number of tall concrete towers that help suspend the bridge over the deepest part of the Hudson River

14: How many miles of cable stays will be installed by the time the bridge is completed

50: How many miles of foundation pilings will be in place, once the bridge is completed

87: The width, in feet, of the Westchester-bound span

96: The width, in feet, of the Rockland-bound span

134: The number of girders, the blue steel assemblies on top of which the road deck sits, that will be installed once the bridge is completed in 2018

139: The height, in feet, of the main span off the water

192: The number of stay cables hung from each of the bridge’s eight main span towers

419: The height, in feet, of the main span towers

600: The length, in feet, of the main channel

1,200: The length, in feet, of the main span, tower to tower

138,000: The number of cars that cross the Tappan Zee Bridge daily

300,000: Cubic yards of concrete in the project, total

220,000,000: Pounds of steel in the project, total

$3.9 billion: The total cost of the new bridge project