Renewed push to restore Tappan Zee Bridge name following Gov. Cuomo’s resignation
ALBANY — It’s a bridge over troubled water.
Gov. Cuomo’s resignation amid sexual harassment allegations has renewed interest in renaming the $4 billion bridge he christened in honor of his father, the late Gov. Mario Cuomo.
The Hudson River span, officially named the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge, connects Westchester and Rockland Counties and replaced the dilapidated Tappan Zee Bridge back in 2017.
Locals have never embraced the new moniker and a majority still refer to the bridge as the Tappan Zee. Cuomo’s downfall now has lawmakers once again pushing legislation that would officially restore the old name.
“It was really driven by the governor’s ego, if he could have named it the Andrew M. Cuomo Bridge he would have ... but he settled for Mario,” Assemblyman Mike Lawler (R-Rockland) told the Daily News on Thursday.
Lawler is the lead sponsor of a bill that would bring back the Tappan Zee name.
“People want to turn the page and they agree that the Cuomo name has been tainted by the governor and his conduct and that the bridge should revert back to the original name,” he said.
Lawler noted the historic roots of the original bridge with “Tappan” referring to a Native American tribe and “Zee” being Dutch for sea.
The legislation has bipartisan support, with several Democrats signing on in support of the measure.
A companion bill was introduced in the Senate this week by Sen. Mike Martucci (R-Hudson Valley).
“With Andrew on his way out the door, let’s erase a visible symbol of him bullying legislators and citizens alike,” Martucci tweeted Wednesday.
The bridge is also been mired in controversy and is tied up in the Assembly’s impeachment probe of the outgoing governor.
Earlier this year, an Albany Times Union report detailed concerns with the construction of the span and an alarming number of bolts that failed during the tightening process.
Officials with the state’s Thruway Authority touted a federal review back in March that found the bridge to be safe and have contested criticisms that there was an attempt to cover up structural issues.
It’s not the first time lawmakers have attempted to relabel the 3.1-mile-long twin-span structure. In 2018, former Republican John DeFrancisco backed a bill that would have changed the name to the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Tappan Zee Bridge.
A change.org petition in support of bringing back the original name has garnered more than 172,000 signatures as of Thursday evening.
Another online petition that has over 9,000 supporters advocates for naming the span after Jared Lloyd, a Spring Valley volunteer firefighter who died in a March fire at an assisted living facility.
Others have floated the idea of naming the bridge after folk singer and Hudson River advocate Pete Seeger.
