Even though the New York Thruway Authority has started construction on the $4 billion Tappan Zee Bridge replacement, the agency does not have a secured funding source. The agency is already $5 billion in debt and has not disclosed plans on how it will pay for the bridge. In his proposed 2016 budge, Governor Andrew Cuomo has suggested spending $1.3 billion from an almost $6 billion in legal settlements with banks to help ease the authority's fiscal woes. The authority has already issued $1.6 in junior bonds for the bridge which will be repaid by a federal loan, but the authority still only has about half the funds needed to build the new bridge.
(more on the Tappan Zee Bridge construction funding woes...)
