Fred LeBrun's column, "Tappan Zee toll is leap into political unknown," Aug. 4, is a bit puzzling. Mr. LeBrun criticized the state Thruway Authority for not disclosing finance specifics for the building of the new Tappan Zee Bridge while it negotiates the federal government's share of the costs.
This is especially curious considering the September 2012 Times Union editorial, "Thruway bosses take a toll on us." In that editorial, the paper criticized the authority for pushing for a toll increase when it should "instead do more to reduce its costs."
I believe Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the authority are doing just that by trying to increase the federal government's loan share for the bridge and mitigating any potential toll increase.
I commend the governor's leadership in moving ahead with the necessary and long-delayed bridge replacement concurrent with funding negotiations. For more than a decade, we've known the bridge needed to be replaced, but nothing happened until Gov. Cuomo took the reins.
This inaction had become an unbearable financial burden. It is estimated that, over the next 20 years, the current bridge would cost New Yorkers more than the price of full replacement, and that simply does not make fiscal sense.
The real issue is that — from the Tappan Zee on down to local roads and bridges as well as environmental and social infrastructure — years of neglect and deferral have put us in crisis. These assets must be repaired, improved or replaced, and our policy makers, along with the public, need to roll up their sleeves to figure out how to pay for it. Our economy and communities depend on it.
Michael J. Elmendorf II
President & CEO
Associated General Contractors
of New York State
Albany