Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge Environmental Compliance, Conservation and Mitigation

As lead environmental consultant for the new Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge, which opened to traffic in 2017, AKRF designed and implemented studies to offset or mitigate impacts that became permit conditions to allow the bridge project to proceed. Compensatory mitigation projects included creation of a 65-foot-wide, 1,000-foot-long channel at Gay’s Point to improve water quality and biological diversity through better circulation; the design and implementation of green infrastructure practices at a local high school; and an oyster restoration program that provided habitat to offset dredging impacts, including the coordination of an Oyster Working Group.

Additionally, the federally endangered shortnose sturgeon and Atlantic sturgeon are found in this region of the Hudson River. Scientists performed sturgeon conservation research and monitoring, including a two-year mobile tracking study and monitoring of acoustic-tagged sturgeon at the bridge site and other parts of the river during pile driving, dredging, and demolition. AKRF has also performed technical reviews of bridge demolition plans, the Piermont Marsh sedimentation monitoring scope, and benthic invertebrate monitoring in the dredge footprint. We previously prepared the Environmental Impact Statement for the project.