Meetings begin tonight for community input on the design of the new Tappan Zee Bridge. Bike and walking access are still options in the final design. Please get out and voice your support for non-motorized access to the new bridge.

Journal News writer, Khurram Saeed, wrote this report last week.

Rockland and Westchester county residents living along the Interstate 287 corridor will get a chance at upcoming workshops to see how a new Tappan Zee Bridge and mass transit additions on I-287 will fit into their communities. The Tappan Zee Bridge/I-287 Corridor Project – led by the state Department of Transportationwith support from the state Thruway Authority and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Metro-North Railroad – is planning to hold five community working meetings along the 30-mile corridor, from Hillburn to Port Chester. The first will take place Nov. 10 in Ramapo, followed by Nov. 12 in West Nyack and Nov. 18 in Upper Nyack. The Westchester meetings are planned for Dec. 1 in Elmsford and Dec. 9 in Port Chester. Each workshop runs from 6 to 8:30 p.m. and focuses on that specific geographic region of the corridor where it is taking place – Ramapo, Clarkstown, Orangetown, Greenburgh, White Plains, Harrison and Rye.

Plans call for replacing the 53-year-old, three-mile Tappan Zee Bridge with a larger, transit-friendly version, adding bus rapid transit along the 30-mile I-287 corridor between Suffern and Port Chester and commuter rail between Suffern and Tarrytown. With its $16 billion price tag (in 2012 dollars), the mega-project is one of the largest of its kind being developed in the United States. More than 120,000 motorists use the bridge daily. The project team said it is evaluating various transit and bridge options that will be narrowed and analyzed in an environmental impact report. For example, a person who shows up at one of the workshops will see the designs for both a single-level and dual level bridge. And they’ll get a look at the designs of I-287, and other roads, featuring lanes dedicated to buses and buses running in high-occupancyvehicle lanes. In Rockland, there is ongoing discussion over whether to build new railroad tracks in the center of the Thruway, or just south of it.

“I think it’s going to be an eye-opening experience in the communities to see what’s being discussed,” Rockland County Legislature chairwoman Harriet Cornell said. Cornell has been an active voice in the project, most recently hosting a half-day conference in September to discuss funding options for the project. Financing won’t be on the agenda of these workshops. The project team has been meeting with leaders in more than two dozen towns and villages in Rockland and Westchester to discuss changes in store for their communities. “Through a series of meetings since last spring, we have heard from local elected officials,” state DOT Acting Commissioner Stanley Gee said in a statement. “The upcoming public meetings will help us inform local residents about project developments and get their comments, which are critical to ensuring that this project meets local and regional needs.”

Cornell agreed the community workshops were a prime opportunity for people to offer their input. “It’s certainly important for the public to attend these meetings,” she said. “There are a lot of choices that still have to be made.” Public open houses to review the project team’s findings are expected to occur early next year. After federal approvals are secured, construction on a new bridge could begin in 2013, and take about five years to complete.