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

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Mario A. Cuomo Brdge now accessible from South Broadway

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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