The price gap between the bridges has existed for decades. Indeed, New York State — during Gov. Thomas E. Dewey’s tenure more than 60 years ago — decided to site the three-mile-long Tappan Zee illogically at the river’s second-widest spot partly because doing so would place the bridge just beyond the jurisdiction of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which, in addition to the George Washington Bridge, operates the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels. New York could set the toll, draw all the revenue and not share it with its neighboring state.
The Tappan Zee, the longest bridge in New York, opened in 1955 and was designed to last 50 years. Now work has begun on a bridge to replace it, one that will also be the widest in the world by some measures. Articles in this series are chronicling the construction of the new double-spanned bridge and the people building it.
But chances are that the gap between the tolls collected at the two bridges will narrow in the next few years because the construction of a $3.9 billion replacement for the Tappan Zee will force the state to raise the price to cross the river. The tantalizing, politically freighted question that no one has yet answered is how high the toll will rise. Logic and fairness will not necessarily be the main factors in that decision.
Anyway, no deep thoughts on the merits of a replacement bridge. It's going to be very expensive, and tolls likely won't pay for it.