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And now, at Last, the Ramp From Broadway to the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge is Open

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June 16, 2020

By Robert Kimmel–

After six years of non-entry, Ramp E leading from South Broadway in Tarrytown directly to the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge is open for motorists.  Without any fanfare or prior alert from the New York Thruway Authority, barriers to the ramp were removed and entrance signs appeared, inviting motorists to take the direct westbound passage to the bridge.

“In the coming weeks” had been the guidance given earlier this month by the Thruway Authority in signaling the timing for the ramp’s re-opening. The old entrance was closed in March, 2014 when workers began the destruction of the Tappan Zee Bridge.

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Semi-official predictions that the ramp would open soon came first last fall and again several months ago, but nothing happened–apparently as a safeguard measure to protect workers still constructing parts of the bridge’s eastside landing plaza.

Drivers on South Broadway, (Route 9), heading toward the Rockland County side are now relieved of having to take a convoluted circuit la­beled the “jug han­dle” in or­der to reach the bridge. That journey re­quired a right turn into a loop lead­ing to east­bound Tar­ry­town Road, and then nearly a quar­ter mile drive to­ward an­other right turn to enter west­bound in­ter­state 287 head­ing to the bridge.

What ef­fect the ramp E use will have on traf­fic along Route 9 in Tar­ry­town re­mains to be seen. Some of­fi­cials an­tic­i­pate greater use of the South Broad­way ramp will add to traf­fic flow along the road­way by mo­torists avoid­ing po­ten­tial slow­downs on In­ter­state 287 head­ing to the bridge during heavy drive times.

The auto ramp opening was unlike Monday afternoon’s much-heralded inaugural access to the shared bike-walking pathway across the bridge, when hundreds of bikers and pedestrians rushed to be among the first to enter that passage.

Daniel Con­vis­sor, Di­rec­tor of Bike Tar­ry­town, foresees prob­lems for pedes­tri­ans and bik­ers emerging from the combined re-opening of the ramp and the use of the shared usage pathway. While call­ing the Shared Use Path “fan­tas­tic,” Con­vis­sor says, “Un­for­tu­nately, the state has bun­gled the im­ple­men­ta­tion in key ways. In­suf­fi­cient thought has been given to safety on Route 9 around the Tar­ry­town end of the Shared Use Path. We an­tic­i­pate 5,000 peo­ple will bike across the bridge on peak days,” he fore­casts. “Many peo­ple will walk and run on the bridge as well.”

“There are many rea­sons peo­ple walk across Route 9 in this area,” Con­vis­sor ob­serves, and they are likely to turn in many directions when they leave the bridge. Some of the cross­walks “are out of the way for some trips,” he charges, and “un­safe.”

Walk­ing and bik­ing con­di­tions along both sides of Route 9 are also un­safe be­cause of the nar­row width and in some cases poor condition of the side­walks. Also, pedes­tri­ans and bik­ers could be en­dan­gered at cross­walks by speed­ing cars and trucks exiting cer­tain dri­ve­ways and en­ter­ing the E ramp en­trance.

He also ob­jects to the re­quire­ment that bik­ers will have to stop six times while cross­ing the bridge. He adds that “cy­clists dis­mount” signs in South Ny­ack “are an Amer­i­can Dis­abil­i­ties Act vi­o­la­tion be­cause there are folks rid­ing bike/​trikes who ei­ther can’t walk or can’t do so eas­ily.”

 

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