Cuomos, Clinton Officially Open 2nd Span Of New Bridge

NYACK, NY — Cars won't be able to use the second span of the Mario Cuomo Bridge until Saturday. But the official ceremonies were Friday morning, and the physical work to shift traffic will take place overnight.

Many special guests attended the ceremony, and many others were recognized for their help in getting the massive public-works project started and (nearly) completed — from politicians to the construction workers. Among them was Matilda Cuomo, widow of Gov. Mario Cuomo, who attended along with many family members.

The Rev. Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson, of Grace Church in Mount Vernon, gave the invocation, praying for the bridge to be a symbol of as well as a means to connect people.

Joanne M. Mahoney, chair of the New York Thruway Board of Directors (and the first woman to hold that post) pointed out that "For 20 years people talked about replacing the bridge but nothing happened except a series of false starts."

She described the first temporary and then dangerous nature of the old Tappan Zee Gov. Wilson bridge, carrying three times the traffic it was meant to hold. "We were patching the patches. The roadway had truly become dangerous," she said.

When asked to take the reins at the Thruway Authority in order to oversee the bridge project, "I accepted not as a matter of blind faith — I'm a Republican, you know," said Mahoney. "I knew with Gov. Cuomo's leadership we could build this bridge and we did. We built it on time and on budget."

Next, Gov. Andrew Cuomo began his remarks with a nod to his mom.

"I'd like to thank my mother for getting in the car, she's afraid of my driving, she always has been and she always will be," he said. "I said, Mom, there are no other cars on the bridge."

He thanked first and foremost President Barack Obama and Congresswoman Nita Lowey, who got New York its federal loan for the project. Then he thanked the 7,000 men and women who worked on the bridge "and showed once again why New York's organized labor is the best in the United States of America."

Saying he had heard many ideas about what the new bridge's towers symbolize, from people standing with their arms outstretched, or hands upheld in peace signs, or V for victory, he said he hoped the bridge raises the spirits of the millions of people who will travel over it.

"We are still capable of great accomplishment and that is an important statement to make in today's world," he said. "People are angry, frustrated, afraid for their future, afraid government is neither capable nor willing.

"It is not the job of government to placate emotions," he said. "The real and the practical — that's what people desperately need today. What this bridge says is society has the capacity. We can confront our problems, we can solve our problems, when we do it collectively."

As the largest infrastructure project in the nation, the bridge is of national significance, he said. And, while President Donald Trump is obsessed with building a wall between the USA and Mexico,"this bridge stands in defiant opposition," Cuomo said. "A wall is built to divide, but separation and division can never forge alliances ... can never make the whole greater than the sum of its parts. Mr. President, stop your quest to build the wall and start building bridges. Bridges can be built. And you do this nation no justice by building walls."

Cuomo then talked about his father, after whom the new bridge is named, and his legacy of optimism, strength and courage.

"That's why it's fitting that this bridge is named after Mario Cuomo," said former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. "He was recognized as a great leader not only in New York but across the country."

Clinton talked about how special it was to get a chance to be on the bridge before it opens to cars, to contemplate the 7,000 workers, 11.5 million hours of construction, 220 million pounds of American steel and 847 New York businesses who were awarded contracts for work on the bridge.

So she paraphrased a classic song about New York: "if you can build it here, you can build it anywhere.

"It is time for the United States of America to take a look at what is getting done here in New York and follow its example," Clinton said. "We used to be builders. We built the intercontinental railroad during the Civil War. The Great Depression did not stop New Yorkers from building. This is a great accomplishment to connect, as Rev. Richardson said, not only Westchester and Rockland but New York to the world.

As a member of the Obama administration, she said, she was thrilled to follow the process to get the project going. "Being able to deliver on time and slightly under budget is an extraordinary accomplishment.

"The governor talked a lot about building bridges and we need them. We have a lot of really shaky scary bridges in America right now," Clinton said.

But, she also said, the country also needs the kind of bridge where differences are recognized but people are brought together.

"Mario Cuomo used to talk about our nation as a family - the family of America. It was on of his trademark phrases," Clinton said. "We are bound to one another...Everyone deserves respect. Today we could use Mario's voice and his moral clarity."

She said she hoped every time people cross the bridge they think of that.

Plus, she said, "I hope everybody who had anything to do with it will stand a little taller and feel proud of what you helped to make happen. New York is leading the way, showing we know how to get it done."

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Images via Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office.