cover image Politics Across the Hudson: The Tappan Zee Megaproject

Politics Across the Hudson: The Tappan Zee Megaproject

Philip Mark Plotch. Rutgers Univ., $34.95 (272p) ISBN 978-0-8135-7249-9

We spend years in traffic yet know little of the brew of politics, bureaucracy, interests, and ideals keeping us there. Planner and political scientist Plotch examines this principle through one transportation planning debacle: the three-decade struggle to refurbish or replace the Tappan Zee Bridge across the Hudson River north of New York City. He provides helpful context by beginning with imperious Governor Dewey's 1950 decision to build a relatively insubstantial bridge across the second widest spot in the Hudson for political and financial reasons. By 1980, increasing bridge congestion prompted a planning process that generated comparatively modest refurbishment and traffic management proposals, but those were ultimately killed in the mid-1990s by environmentalists opposed to highway expansion. Plotch goes on to describe the protracted study of a plan to build a replacement bridge for cars and trains within a new regional rail system, a grandiose project that attracted much support but was regarded as impracticable by many professionals. In 2011, Governor Cuomo ended the futility by peremptorily deciding to build a new highway bridge stripped of transit, frustrating almost all concerned. Plotch dissects a well-intentioned assessment and public participation process undone by parochial interests, turf battles, unrealistic expectations, and arcane and glacial regulatory procedures. Anyone concerned about the place of large infrastructure projects in the modern U.S. should consider this sobering case study. (Aug.)