The president will seek to rally support for more federal dollars for highway and bridge improvements.
TARRYTOWN – With the new Tappan Zee Bridge taking shape behind him, President Barack Obama on Wednesday urged Congress to inject billions of dollars in the nation’s transportation infrastructure to keep Americans working and encourage businesses to stay.
During his first visit to Westchester as president, Obama praised the progress on the new $3.9 billion crossing, which is replacing the 58-year-old crumbling structure.
“It carries a lot more traffic than when it was built back in 1955,” Obama said under sunny skies at Sunset Cove, a restaurant at the Washington Irving Boat Club. “At times, you can see the river through the cracks in the pavement. Now, I’m not an engineer, but I figure that’s not good.”
Highlights from President Obama’s speech on the country’s infrastructure at near the Tappan Zee Bridge in Tarrytown. (Video by Peter Carr/The Journal News)
He noted the new Tappan Zee will be the first new bridge in New York in 50 years and announced the federal government plans to apply the same “fast track” process to 11 other infrastructure projects, including Boston’s South Station and light rail around Seattle.
“Normally it would have taken three to five years to permit this bridge,” Obama said during his 10-minute speech. “We did it in a year and a half.”
He also called out congressional Republicans for blocking funding that would pay for modern highways, bridges and seaports.”We’ve got more than 100,000 bridges that are old enough to qualify for Medicare,” Obama said.Officials have warned that funding in the federal Highway Trust Fund is set to run out by the fall, which would put 112,000 active road and bridge projects and 5,600 transit projects at risk, along with nearly 700,000 jobs.”That’s like the population of Tampa and St. Louis combined,” the president said, citing the jobs figure.
“So far at least Republicans who run this Congress seem to have a different priority,” Obama said. “Rebuilding America — that shouldn’t be a partisan issue.”
Obama emphasized that “there is work to be done.”
“So the bottom line, Tarrytown, is America doesn’t stand still. … So I’m going to keep on fighting alongside all of you to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to rebuild America – not just rebuild one bridge, but I want us to rebuild every bridge. I don’t want us to just rebuild one school, I want us to rebuild every school that needs help.”
Under New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the state approved a process that allows infrastructure project to be designed while construction begins.
Cuomo, who introduced the president, has been praised for reviving the project, which had been stagnating for nearly a decade. It’s now in its second year of construction with completion projected for 2018.
With preparations in place for President Obama’s visit to the TZ Bridge construction site, minority construction workers protest about being shut out of major construction projects. (Video by Joe Larese/ The Journal News)
“We are the state of the bold. We are the state of the daring,” Cuomo said. “We are the state of performance. We are the state of skyscrapers, intricate transit systems. We are the state of public works that challenge the imagination.”
Also in attendance, seated to the back, was Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, the Republican who is planning to challenge Cuomo this fall. He criticized the governor before the speech for not discussing the cost of future tolls.
“The public has a right to know before the election,” Astorino said. “They know what it’s going to be. They promised last year we would have answers.”
Astorino accused the governor’s staff of refusing to allow him to sit in the front. Cuomo’s office, however, denied it meddled with the seating chart. An official who attended the speech said Astorino spent more than an hour talking with reporters and that by the time he tried to claim a seat, the choice ones were taken.
But all eyes were on the president who wore a crisp dark suit and dark blue tie against a background of construction equipment and steel piles. Obama joked and shook hands with many of the 250 people who were invited to attend, including elected officials, construction workers and residents.
Chris Junge of Tarrytown brought his two children, Tucker, 8, and Cassie, 6. The family walked from home to the event.
“It was exciting to be that close. It was personal,” Junge said. “It was a long day for them but I think they will remember it.”
Arriving at John F. Kennedy International, Obama flew aboard Marine One to Tarrytown. He traveled by motorcade the short distance to the marina. Less than 30 minutes after he arrived, Obama was back off to New York City to attend two Democratic party fundraisers in the evening.
Reporter Brian Tumulty contributed to this story.
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