Why Is New York’s Mario Cuomo Bridge Where It Is?

One New York TikToker gives us a historic rundown on why the Mario Cuomo Bridge, formerly the Tappan Zee, was built in the spot that it was built in. 

Those of you from the Capital Region that have driven downstate have driven over the Mario Cuomo bridge before. It has been there for decades, though previously it was the Tappan Zee bridge, RIP.

What I didn't realize is that there is a reason why the bridge is places in a certain area. I always thought that the reason behind where they put the bridge was based on some sort of engineering or logistics decision. While that could still be partly why, there's a reason that's a bit different - and it all come down to money.

Read More: Are Capital Region Bridges Safe? Answer May Shock You

The Location Reasoning

TikToker, Urban Explained, went into a deep dive on the history of that particular bridge and what he presented is some pretty interesting work.

If you look at the Google Map image below you'll see the Mario Cuomo bridge is at a pretty wide point of the Hudson River. The bridge itself is a little over 3 miles long. Just a little way down you can see the river gets a lot narrower. So why not put the bridge there?

If they had placed the bridge in that narrow area of the river it would have ended up in the territory managed by the New York Port Authority. If it was in their territory they would have to be given a cut of the bridge tolls. When the bridge was designed they wanted to be sure that those tolls were used to pay for expenses for the bridge, and not have to give additional finds to the port authority.

While it would have been a lot cheaper to make a smaller bridge, in the long run it would have actually cost more with that money that would have to be given to the Port. It all makes sense now.