Tappan Zee Bridge
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The Tappan Zee Bridge is a cantilever bridge in New York over the Hudson River at its widest point, the Tappan Zee. The Tappan Zee is named for an Indian tribe from the area called the "Tappan". "Zee" is Dutch for a "wide expanse of water". In 1994, the bridge was renamed to The Governor Malcolm Wilson Tappan Zee Bridge after Malcolm Wilson, former Governor of New York, though an extremely small population refers to the span as such. It connects Nyack in Rockland County with Tarrytown in Westchester County. Construction started in March 1952 and it was opened for traffic on December 15, 1955. The total length of the bridge and approaches is 16,013 feet (just over 3 miles, 4.881 km). The cantilever span is 1212 feet (369.42 meters) providing a 138-foot (42-meter) clearance over the water. The bridge is located about 25 miles north of Midtown Manhattan and the Manhattan skyline can easily been seen from the bridge on a clear day.
The bridge is part of the New York State Thruway mainline, and also designated as Interstate 87 and Interstate 287. The span carries seven lanes of automotive traffic, with the center lane being switchable between eastbound and westbound traffic depending on the prevalent commuter direction. On business days, the center lane is eastbound in the morning and westbound in the evening. This is accomplished via a movable center barrier that is moved by a pair of barrier transfer machines, though traffic along I-87/I-287 is frequently very slow across the bridge, and it's usually the highlight of rush-hour traffic reports.
The bridge was built with a design lifetime of just 50 years due to a scarcity of materials during the Korean War. The deteriorating structure, combined with concern of over-usage by increased traffic over the bridge has led to plans to repair the bridge or replace it with a tunnel or a new bridge [link] (pdf). These plans and discussions have been whittled down to 6 options and are currently in the environmental review stage.
Most eastbound car traffic is subject to a toll of $4.50 as of July, 2006, payable in cash or via E-ZPass.
The Tappan Zee in popular culture
- In a song in Maurice Sendak's animated film and stage production Really Rosie, the title character claims she will "tap across the Tappan Zee."
- The first line of the Fountains of Wayne song Little Red Light on the album Welcome Interstate Managers is "Sitting in traffic on the Tappan Zee".
- The bridge can be seen out of the train windows during the dinner scene between Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint on the train in "North by Northwest".
- In the book Gateway by Fredrick Pohl, the protagonist Robinette Broadhead maintains a summer home overlooking the Tappan Zee bridge at some undesignated point in the far future, although the book uses the translation of the Dutch Zee to Sea.
- In news reports, the bridge is seen when reporting of many suicides commited. Mile markers on the bridge are used to report an accident or jumper.
See also
- Plans for I-287
External links
- [Thruway schedule of cash tolls at fixed toll barriers] (includes bridge toll)
- [Thruway Authority Factbook]
- [Tappan Zee Bridge at NYC Roads]
- [Tappan Zee Bridge/I-287 Environmental Review]
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