The state police and the Thruway Authority have temporarily shifted their operations due to Tappan Zee Bridge construction. They will be in Rockland until 2018.
State Police Troop T and the state Thruway Authority this week began relocating their operations from Tarrytown to the former Journal News printing plant at 160 N. Route 303 in West Nyack. The building is near Interchange 12 on the Thruway, across the street from the Palisades Center mall.
Capt. Richard Mazzone, the zone commander, said they are 95 percent moved in.
“Everything that was in Tarrytown is coming over here,” Mazzone told The Journal News. “Obviously, we still have a lot of unpacking to do. But we’re up and running.”
The state police and Thruway facilities at 333 S. Broadway in Tarrytown will be demolished and the land used as a staging area during construction of the $3.9 billion bridge. Part of the property will later be included in the bridge’s alignment.
In 2018, the state police will move back to new barracks in Tarrytown, this time on the south side of the Thruway, near the current site of the Thruway Authority’s toll plaza building.
The authority’s maintenance operations will also return to Westchester, north of the new bridge. They are expected to share space with a parking lot and facilities that will serve users of the bridge’s 3-mile bicycle and pedestrian path that will connect to South Nyack.
The shift to the 42,000-square-foot warehouse had been anticipated for more than a year.
Tappan Zee Constructors, the team designing and building the new bridge, began work to renovate the facility in January. It is contractually obligated to relocate the two agencies and rebuild their facilities when construction is finished.
Back in February, The Journal News reported some of the changes the site would see including doubling on-site parking to 145 spaces from 73 and adding an 8-foot-high fence to serve as a buffer between Thruway parking lots and homes on North Greenbush Road.
Troopers will use the north part of the building and the parking lot toward Route 303. Mazzone said people should continue to call 911 during emergencies and Thruway dispatchers at 800-842-2233 for non-emergency situations.
The Thruway Authority will use the back of the building, and carry out maintenance, welding, rigging and electric work in existing shop space. About 30 Thruway maintenance workers are moving over from Tarrytown to West Nyack, a Tappan Zee project official said.
Tim Donovan, project manager for Hauser Brothers Inc., which owns the building, noted the warehouse had been vacant for years and said the company was excited the space would generate income until at least 2018.
“It’s nice to have it leased and leased for that amount of time,” Donovan said.
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