LoHud august 8, 2014 Theresa Juva-Brown, tjuva@lohud.com
If you’re looking for the state police station in Tarrytown, be prepared to drive across the Tappan Zee Bridge to Rockland.
Troopers have moved to 160 N. Route 303 in West Nyack, where they will share a 42,000-square-foot building with 28 Thruway Authority employees for the next four years. It also is housing the headquarters of Zone 1, which includes three state police barracks in the region.
The Thruway and state police leave behind an 18,000-square-foot building on Route 9 that will be torn down in the next year to make way for Tappan Zee Bridge construction activities.
“We were over there for 50-plus years in that barracks,” said state police Capt. Richard Mazzone, commander of Zone 1. “The move — when you’ve been in the building that long — is certainly a little difficult, but we certainly planned it well, and we’ve made the move rather seamless.”
Though the Tarrytown station is now in Rockland, it has retained its Westchester identity.
“We are referring to it as the Tarrytown barracks,” Mazzone said. “This is a temporary facility.”
In 2018 after the new Tappan Zee Bridge is completed, state police and the Thruway Authority will move back to Tarrytown to separate locations that have yet to be built.
For the past month, troopers have been settling into the transformed warehouse, the former Journal News printing plant. The new building has its perks — a lot more space — but also drawbacks — a lack of windows and natural light.
Mazzone said he doesn’t know of any problems with people finding the new location, which is a couple miles from the Tappan Zee, unlike the old barracks.
“As far as the 100 miles of roadway in Zone 1, the bridge is one of the most critical pieces of roadway,” he said. “It’s definitely going to be nicer when we get back in the new facility, where I can look out the window and actually see the bridge.”
That will be especially important because the new 3-mile crossing will have a path for cyclists and pedestrians.
“We’re certainly anticipating some additional responsibilities with the shared-use path,” Mazzone said.