The Kosciuszko Bridge’s second span, which includes four new bike lanes and a pedestrian walkway, opens to traffic on Thursday as Governor Cuomo hosts a week of events in commemoration. Four lanes of Brooklyn-bound traffic will open and the first span will be reconfigured for five Queens-bound lanes on Thursday.
The original Kosciuszko Bridge was a truss bridge that opened in 1939 and was demolished in 2017 after the first span of the new cable-stayed bridge opened.
The new $873 million structure is being marketed by Governor Cuomo as “on budget” and opening four years ahead of schedule.
Pedestrians and cyclists can access the new biking and walking lanes on Wednesday from 12 p.m. – 6 p.m., and the second span officially opens to traffic “before rush hour” on Thursday morning.
Here is your new 20-foot-wide bicycle and pedestrian pedestrian path on the Kosciuszko Bridge. pic.twitter.com/tl7pvNGbju
— Vincent Barone (@vinbarone) August 27, 2019
Governor Cuomo’s big Buffalo Billions flop – NY’s flagship $750 million investment into Elon Musk’s solar factory that delivered far fewer than the promised jobs – gained renewed attention this week as Cuomo promotes the thrifty construction of the Kosciuszko Bridge.
When Cuomo unveiled the first portion of the Kosciuszko Bridge in 2017, he cruised in style in President Franklin Roosevelt’s 1932 Packard.
Last Sunday, Cuomo toured the bridge with the Dept. of Transportation.
Toured and reviewed construction at the Kosciuszko Bridge this morning slated to open this week.
This is the first new bridge in NYC in over 50 years and it will be opening FOUR YEARS ahead of schedule! #BuildBridgesNotWalls pic.twitter.com/VBTdsizLmO
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) August 25, 2019
Cuomo also “signed off” on the bridge on Sunday, carving his name into wet cement.
I sign off on the Kosciuszko Bridge… literally. pic.twitter.com/ep12GeRYih
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) August 25, 2019
Beneath the bridge, a public park dubbed “Under the K” is also in the process of being built.