Residents On Both Sides Of The Hudson Losing Their Minds Over Tappan Zee Noise
TARRYTOWN, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Can you imagine enduring loud, pile driving sounds all day long? That's the noise that's driving residents crazy on both sides of the Hudson River.
Alice Goldberg thought she'd gotten used to having the Tappan Zee Bridge as a neighbor, but it's never been like this before.
The steady pounding has echoed up and down the river this month as pile drivers have tested the riverbed for the new Tappan Zee Bridge being built alongside the old span.
"It was disturbing enough to wake people up -- you could hear it all the ways in middle of town," the Tarrytown resident told CBS 2's Lou Young.
Complaints have been pouring in from both sides of the Hudson.
"When the windows were closed it's just as bad as when the windows are open. It's there. It's very bad, yeah," Nyack resident Anthony Rosario said.
"It was loud; it was huge," added Leslie Falls, also of Nyack.
On Tuesday the barges with the big cranes were moved adjacent to the center span, closer to the Westchester County side. The pile drivers were silent for the moment, but the residents knew it was only a temporary respite: a pause before the start of a seven-year ordeal.
And as Young found out, even one machine can make quite the sound.
"It's a single rhythmic pounding for each driver so when there's three or four or five drivers it's not going to be rhythmic," Goldberg said.
Residents brought their complaints to the Thruway Authority this week. A spokesman for the agency said what they've been hearing is "smart, early work intended to identify and lessen the noise from future construction."
Residents said they'll want more than assurances.
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