Future Cost of New Tappan Zee Bridge Tolls Remains a Mystery

By Alfred Branch (Patch Staff)

As the new Tappan Zee Bridge continues to take shape, how much it will cost to cross it remains a mystery, news reports suggest.

Subscribe

Certainly, paying for the $3.9 billion span will not be cheap for drivers (who currently pay $5) following the recent decision of the federal Environmental Protection Agency rejecting most of the massive loan New York was going to use to fund a large portion of the new bridge, according to The New York Times.

Essentially, the EPA said the state was using most of the loan to build the bridge, not help improve the environment, sentiments echoed by some in the state.

Estimates for the cost of the tolls are as high as $14, which has motorists angry, according toWCBS-TV.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo vows to appeal the EPA decision, according to The Poughkeepsie Journal.

“We’ll go back and we’ll appeal that,” Cuomo recently said to reporters, as quoted by the Journal. “But remember again this was never part of the planning for the bridge financing in the first place. We’d like to get it done, but it’s not like the bridge was dependent on it.”

Photo credit: New York Thruway Authority

Want to comment on this or other Patch posts? Read this to get started and then scroll down to the comments box.