I'm a civil engineering student and I've been very pleased with Cuomo's recent focus on infrastructure, with him starting and/or finishing, and proposing many such projects in NY in recent years. Some examples are the Belleayre gondola, new Tappan Zee Bridge, 2nd Ave Subway, and a new Penn Station.
A question came up in the Belleayre gondola thread as to who can take credit for these kinds of projects. Some take so long to build that they span over multiple administrations. Here's my opinions for the new TZB and 2nd Ave Subway.
The new TZB was a pie in the sky for decades, and construction started and will finish under Cuomo, so IMO he can take full credit for getting it done. The bridge has provisions for a rail line to be added that would run in between the two spans. The new bridge has a much shallower grade than the old one for this very reason. Problem is that while there's rail right on the Westchester side, there isn't any right on the Rockland side, so that would need to be added before there could be a line across the bridge. I have a lengthy and detailed plan for a rail line that could use the bridge, but it isn't really necessary to share on a ski forum.
The 2nd Ave Subway restarted construction in 2007 under Spitzer (who resigned in disgrace in 2008). Cuomo can't take credit for starting it, but he did finally make them stop pushing the opening date back and allocated funds to speed up construction and get it done. Fun fact: I was on the first northbound train that served the new stations. Just like all the first chairs I've had at ski resort opening days (I think I've had 3).
I've lived in New York my entire life.
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