4. The New Bridge Project Cost $4 Billion

April 9, 2017 – Roadway connections between the eastbound and westbound spans will allow emergency access. Photo Credit: New York State Thruway Authority.

The last opening of a bridge of this scale in the New York area was in 1964 for the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge connecting Brooklyn and Staten Island. What’s different about how the budget was decided for this massive project was that instead of the state creating its own design, a new approach was taken where the design and construction were put out to bid. The Tappan Zee Constructors consortium won the bid with a plan that came in $1 billion under what the state had anticipated would cost. In the end, Gov. Cuomo explained that the entire project ‘cost $4 billion to build, “on time and on budget.”‘