In Memorial: The Tappan Zee Bridge

All words and photos by F LoBuono

Bridges, for some unknown reason, have always played a special role in my life. My mother's family lived in Brooklyn, so we made countless trips over the legendary Brooklyn Bridge. I grew up in Fort Lee, New Jersey where the awesome George Washington Bridge (a.k.a. The Busiest Bridge in the World) not only dominates the landscape but the very ethos of the borough, as well - the high school teams are named The Bridgemen.  And, lastly in my life came the Tappan Zee Bridge, where I currently reside.

The Brooklyn Bridge

The George Washington Bridge

Each has had a significant impact on my life. But, with the imminent demise of the Tappan Zee (if all goes according to plan, it will be gone by this time tomorrow, 11 a.m. 1/15/2019), I've chosen to focus on her.

The brand new, and impressive, Mario M. Cuomo Bridge is already in place with a plethora of wide lanes for speeding cars zooming past the skeletal remains of the rusting superstructure of the old one at 70 MPH. Explosive charges have been planted at the base that will sever the support columns and bring the remaining steel crashing down onto a specially designed net in the water below. The remnants will them be hauled away on huge barges to be recycled. I hope to be there to witness it.

My memory of the bridge is almost a mystic one. Growing up in Fort Lee, I never really had any connections in the area of the TZ (as it was nicknamed in the day) - Rockland County, New York. So, we simply never traveled there. We knew of it but it remained a far away symbol of The Country, even though it was less than 25 miles from my boyhood home! Being a kid with a City mentality, Rockland was Upstate - for Country folk. With the exception of the occasional trip to Bear Mountain, we had now cause to be near the bridge, much less drive over it.

Tappan Zee Sunrise

However, one of my family friends had a wonderful boat - a 45 foot cabin cruiser. And, when we got lucky the owner would invite my parents and brother and sister for a trip up the Hudson to the Tappan Zee. It was always cause for celebration. For city kids, it was a way to escape in luxury. And, as legend had it, once we reached the TZ it was safe to actually swim in the Hudson. Now, this was a BIG deal. Most of us would rarely swim in the river in Fort Lee - too polluted. But, once you got Upstate the water would magically clear and we would dive off the boat and swim all day long. Of course, I'm sure the water was not ALL the much purer there, but that didn't matter - we THOUGHT it was. And, I've lived to write about it so, it couldn't have been all that bad anyway!

The Malcolm Wilson Tappan Zee Bridge

Little did I know then that I would spend most of my adult life in the shadow of the Tappan Zee Bridge. I moved to South Nyack, the Rockland terminus of the bridge, in the early 80's and never looked back. In fact, my current apartment, like most of my residences here, is within site of both the new and old bridges. I have witnessed, and often photographed, hundreds of sunrises and sunsets over that bridge. I have seen it on days so hot it seemed to shimmer in the heat. I have also witnessed winters so cold that huge masses of ice collected on its columns. And, there are those magic days when she appeared almost as a specter rising out of the morning mist. I was here when they officially made it the Malcolm Wilson Bridge. And, I've been here for the controversy over the new bridge's name. But, I think people need to get past that. It's a new day - a new bridge, with a new name. So be it.

The Mario M. Cuomo Bridge

The TZ was never a beautiful bridge. I suppose that's partially because it wasn't built to last in the first place. It was planned obsolescence, i.e. a stop-gap until a more beautiful and permanent structure (like the new one) could replace it.  It was dirty, noisy, and less than perfectly safe. The traffic jams sucked. It was time for her to go. And, the new bridge, despite the controversy over the name, is still a magnificent structure - a marvel of modern engineering. Yes, it is time.

Let us honor the past and celebrate the new.


Note: I use the feminine because the bridge has always given me a female "energy".