page_title: New York State Thruway
section_title: Tappan Zee Bridge replacement
hierarchical_section_title: New York State Thruway / History / Tappan Zee Bridge replacement
caption_attribution_description: English: Tappan Zee Bridge on Hudson River. (NY) Français&#160;: Tappan Zee Bridge sur l'Hudson River. (Etat de New-York - USA)
context_page_description: The New York State Thruway is a system of controlled-access highways spanning 569.83 miles within the U.S. state of New York. It is operated by the New York State Thruway Authority, a New York State public-benefit corporation. The 496.00-mile mainline is a toll road that extends from the New York City line at Yonkers to the Pennsylvania state line at Ripley by way of Albany, Syracuse, and Buffalo. According to the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association, the Thruway is the fifth busiest toll road in the United States.
  A tolled highway connecting the major cities of New York was first proposed as early as the 1940s. The first section of the Thruway, between Utica and Rochester, opened on June 24, 1954. The remainder of the mainline and many of its spurs connecting to highways in other states and Canadian provinces were built in the 1950s. In 1957, much of the Thruway system was included as portions of Interstate 87, I-90, and I-95. Other segments became part of I-190 and I-287 shortly afterward.
context_section_description: The original Tappan Zee Bridge, carrying the concurrency of the New York State Thruway, I-87, and I-287, was a cantilever bridge built during 1952–55. The bridge was three miles (4.8 km) long and spanned the Hudson at its second-widest point. Before its replacement in 2017, the deteriorating structure carried an average of 138,000 vehicles per day, substantially more traffic than its designed capacity. During its first decade, the bridge carried fewer than 40,000 vehicles per day. Part of the justification for replacing the bridge stems from its construction immediately following the Korean War on a low budget of only $81 million. Unlike other major bridges in metropolitan New York, the Tappan Zee was designed to last only 50 years. The Federal Highway Administration issued a report in October 2011 designating the Tappan Zee's replacement to be a dual-span twin bridge.
  Construction officially began in October 2013, with the new spans being built to the north of the existing bridge. The new bridge connects to the existing highway approaches of I-87 and I-287 on both river banks. The northbound/westbound span opened on August 25, 2017. Southbound/eastbound traffic remained on the old bridge until October 6, 2017. At that point, southbound/eastbound traffic shifted to the westbound span of the new bridge and the old bridge closed. The bridge's eastbound span opened to traffic on September 11, 2018. Upon completion, the new Tappan Zee Bridge became one of the longest cable-stayed spans in the nation.
caption: Original Tappan Zee Bridge
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