EPA Rejects Big Part Of Tappan Zee Bridge Loan, So Who’s Paying For It Now?

It was a blow to Gov Andrew Cuomo's plan for fiancing a multi million project. The Environmental Protection Agency rejected a big portion of NY's $511 million low-interest loan to help pay for a new Tappan Zee Bridge, as the current one continues to slowly crumble.  Now New York state may have to sell more of its own bonds to help cover the huge cost for a new bridge. So what does this mean? Potentially even HIGHER tolls for drivers. The state does plan to appeal the decision.

From the NY Times 

Construction of the new, twin-span, 3.1-mile Tappan Zee Bridge — crossing the Hudson between Rockland and Westchester Counties — began last year and is scheduled to be completed by 2018. The state has been seeking inventive forms of financing in a bid to hold down the tolls that will eventually be used to pay off the loans financing the project.

So far, the state has obtained $1.6 billion in federal transportation loans, an approach highlighted by President Obama in May when he used the bridge as a backdrop while urging Republicans in Congress to support his $302 billion, four-year transportation-infrastructure program.