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Tappan Zee Bridge: Opening date Aug. 25 for one span announced, traffic patterns noted

The first half of the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement will open Aug. 25.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo confirmed the date during an infrastructure-focused presentation to the Association for a Better New York in Manhattan Thursday morning.

"At the end of the day, my friends, it's very, very simple. We have a certain period of time on this Earth, and what the good book tells all of us is use your time to make this place a better place," said Cuomo.

The governor did not address the opening of the $3.9 billion bridge — now officially called the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge — directly, but the much-anticipated date was included in a slide as he pumped up his transportation plans for the region.

"We need to leave this state better than we found it and we're going to leave her safer, sweeter, kinder, cleaner and more secure than she's been before," the current governor said, with the opening date projected over his head. "We are on the road to making it happen."

The August 25 opening marks the beginning of the end for the old, 62-year-old Tappan Zee Bridge.

On the evening of Friday, Aug. 25, running into the next morning, the Thruway Authority will move all Rockland-bound traffic onto the new 96-foot-wide span. Westchester-bound traffic will stay on the bridge for "about a couple of months," the Thruway said, at which point it will shift over, too.

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http://www.lohud.com/story/news/tran...ate/515782001/