Rush Transcript: Governor Cuomo Announces Opening of Second Span of New Kosciuszko Bridge - Four Years Ahead of Schedule and on Budget

Statement

Earlier today, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced the opening of the Brooklyn-bound, second span of the Kosciuszko Bridge, the first major bridge crossing built in New York City since the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge opened to traffic in 1964. The opening of the new bridge, part of an $873 million design-build construction project, was accomplished a full four years ahead of schedule and was on budget. The second span's opening also comes one month ahead of the target date announced in May. Together, the two spans will ease travel, enhance safety and reduce congestion by providing travelers with five Queens-bound travel lanes and four Brooklyn-bound travel lanes of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, plus a 20-foot-wide bikeway/walkway on the Brooklyn-bound span with spectacular views of Manhattan. The project has helped to support approximately 11,300 jobs in construction and related fields in the New York City metropolitan region.

A rush transcript of the Governor's comments is available below:

Governor Cuomo: Thank you. Thank you. What a great, great day, isn't it? It is really special. First, we would not be here today without the work without the leadership of my colleagues in government. Especially in the State Assembly and the State Senate and especially by Joe Lentol and Cathy Nolan. Let's give them a great round of applause.

Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney delivered Federal money for us. Thank you, Congresswoman.

New York City Council was our full partner, let's give them a round of applause.

My mother, who kept threatening that if I don't get it done on time I'm not going to get meatballs on Sunday. Let's give her a round of applause.

To the 11,000 women and men who worked day and night, Saturday and Sunday to bring this project in four years ahead of schedule - have you ever heard of that? Thank you and God bless you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

To the leadership and cooperation of our union brothers and sisters who bring skill and craftsmanship that is unparalleled, Mario Cilento, Gary LaBarbera, thank you very much.

To our DOT team that stepped up to the Commissioner, to Wahid Albert, to Kelly Cummings from my office - let's give them a big round of applause.

To the Kosciuszko Bridge named for General Kosciuszko, a great Polish-American, a great Revolutionary War hero. Who also reminds us that we all came from somewhere else at one time and we all came together to make this country what it is today. Let's give the Polish-American people and all our new Americans a big round of applause for making this state the greatest state in the nation.

The Kosciuszko Bridge is special to me. I am a product of a mixed marriage. My father was from Queens and my mother was from Brooklyn. So I spent many, many hours going back and forth on the Kosciuszko and it is a legendary bottleneck. My mother and I were just talking about how my father who lived in Queens and worked in Brooklyn would plan his commute around Kosciuszko Bridge. It was only later on that he learned there was no good time to go over the Kosciuszko Bridge.

But it was a legendary bottleneck with a legendary choke point. Why? Because it was built 80 years ago. It was designed for 10,000 cars and now it carries 200,000 cars. It was narrow, it was dangerous, it had a steel plating on it, a steel grid. It was very high, which created a steep incline, which made the trucks slow down to go over the bridge. And this went on for 80 years and everyone said we have to do something, we have to do something, but nothing happened.

Well today my friends something has happened. The original bridge which was six narrow lanes now goes to nine lanes which are wider, we have a pedestrian bike path, we have shoulders. This new bridge will reduce traffic by 65 percent.

Just think of what that means in terms of time, in terms of preserving the environment, and as Assemblyman Lentol said, we didn't just build a bridge. We used it as an opportunity to meet with the local communities and said, while we're building the bridge, how can we help improve the community? Because the community did have to suffer through years of traffic and trucks and noise and construction. The end product was worth it but they did go through a difficult time.

So we built a 30,000-square-foot park on the Queens side that is going to be under construction and Joe Lentol sees his dream realized. A seven-acre park which is under "Under the K," $7 million from the State. Joe Lentol, God Bless you and we all thank you for making this dream a reality. Let's give Assemblyman Lentol a big round of applause.

But not only is this bridge smart, not only is it on budget and is it early, not only is it functional, she is a beauty. She really is a beauty. Towers nearly 300 feet tall, cable-stayed bridge. Wait until you see you see it tonight when she's in full glory, when she's illuminated. Now they're going to be talking about the Queens and Brooklyn skyline - not just the Manhattan skyline - and it's about time.

And my friends, to me, it's also about what this bridge symbolizes: At a time when we have so much negativity, and so much frustration and so much anger in this country and so much tension, this bridge is an example of what government can do and what society can do when you focus on the positive, and you bring a positive energy, and when optimism triumphs over cynicism.

This is New York State at her best. Look around you. This is New York - New York is not a product of evolution. This was not God made - this was made by women and men who believed in themselves. We built this - we made this happen: The tallest buildings, the longest bridges, 600 miles of subways, projects that people said could never happen. The faint of heart said it was impossible; that we were dreamers; that you could never do what we envisioned doing, but we did it over and we did it over again, and that is New York State at her best. New York State is the state where confidence meets competence, where daring meets ability. That is New York - that is the New York state of mind, and that's what this bridge symbolizes today.

And it's not this bridge alone - it is that spirit; it is that boldness; it is that energy; it is that New York swagger that says, "We're building a new LaGuardia Airport - the first airport and new airport in this nation in 25 years; and we're building a new JFK airport; and we're rebuilding the Long Island Rail Road and a new Penn-Farley and a new Javits." Because that's what made New York, New York - that's what made this country what it was at its best. That's the New York story, and New York led this nation with that story and that energy in the past, and New York is going to continue to lead this nation forward by showing what is possible when we believe in ourselves, when we stop the negative, when we come together and we all pull in the same direction as one state, one community, one America.

Thank you, God bless. Let's cut the ribbon.

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