Tarrytown's Aukland to Help Select Bridge

Among the many high-profile folks selected by Governor Andrew Cuomo to review the designs for the Tappan Zee Bridge is our own hard-working Tarrytown Planning Board member David Aukland.

Along with Bridge Design “Aesthetic Team” members artist Jeffrey Koons and the Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and many other experts and advisors in every angle of expertise imaginable, there is the important "community representatives" category.

Mayor Drew Fixell has designated David Aukland to represent the Village on the selection panel.

"It is a privilege and a great pleasure to be on this diverse and highly qualified team, working to shape our new Tappan Zee crossing,” Aukland said. “Everyone on the team is excited by the proposals we have seen, and we are looking forward to refining them as we move toward a recommendation to the Thruway Authority for a bridge that will long be a landmark for the area.”

Aukland has served on the Planning Board since his 2006 appointment, and he has reviewed emanations of the bridge rebuild along the way, as well as various village developments. Before landing in Tarrytown, he worked for IBM in the United Kingdom and at their company headquarters in Paris.

He knows there's much work ahead for him.

"We have much still to do in helping to select a builder for the bridge, but it is clear already that the contenders are determined to be sensitive to local needs both in the design of the bridge and in limiting the disturbance the construction will inevitably bring," Aukland said. "I am happy to say that the whole team recognizes the importance of keeping that to a minimum over the years the project will take."

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