Cuomo Bridge’s Old Name: Tappan Zee Origins and Renaming Disputes

Before it was renamed in 2017, the bridge now called the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge was known as the Tappan Zee Bridge, and more formally, from 1994 onward, as the Governor Malcolm Wilson Tappan Zee Bridge. The Cuomo Bridge’s old name traces back to the span’s 1955 opening and to the Native American and Dutch heritage of the Hudson Valley. Governor Andrew Cuomo pushed through the current name to honor his late father, former Governor Mario M. Cuomo, and the change has been contested ever since.¹

Where the Tappan Zee Name Came From

“Tappan Zee” describes a natural widening of the Hudson River, roughly ten miles long and up to three miles across, where the bridge sits between Tarrytown and Nyack.² “Tappan” refers to the Lenape subgroup that lived along the Hudson Palisades, and “zee” is the Dutch word for “sea,” a nod to the Dutch settlers who were among the first Europeans in the Lower Hudson Valley.³ When the original cantilever bridge opened in December 1955, officials picked the name as a deliberate reference to the region’s colonial and indigenous history.¹

For residents on both sides of the river, the name carries local meaning. Christie Black, who managed the Tappan Zee Thrift Shop, said losing it “means the next generation will lose an awareness of all that heritage.”¹

The Malcolm Wilson Renaming in 1994

In 1994, the span was officially renamed the Governor Malcolm Wilson Tappan Zee Bridge.⁴ Malcolm Wilson served as New York’s 50th governor in 1973–74 after Nelson Rockefeller resigned, closing out a 36-year run in state elective office that began with his 1938 election to the State Assembly from Yonkers. A Fordham-educated lawyer who practiced in White Plains, Wilson was considered a favorite son of Westchester County, so attaching his name to the bridge at the county’s western edge fit.⁵

The governor who signed that 1994 renaming was Mario M. Cuomo himself, then in his final year in office.⁶ His son Andrew would later strip both Wilson’s name and “Tappan Zee” from the replacement bridge.

How the 2017 Renaming Happened

By the early 2010s the 1955 structure was at the end of its life, and New York built a new dual-span cable-stayed replacement. The first span opened in August 2017, and the project reached substantial completion in 2018.⁷ Before the new bridge opened, Governor Andrew Cuomo secured a legislative agreement to name it the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge.⁸

Mario Cuomo, New York’s 52nd governor from 1983 to 1994, was a three-term Democrat known nationally for his keynote speech at the 1984 Democratic National Convention and for vetoing capital punishment bills twelve times.⁹ He died on January 1, 2015.¹⁰ Critics of the renaming rarely disputed his stature; what they objected to was the process and the loss of a name that had stood for more than six decades.

Why the New Name Is Contested

Opposition centered on two things: how the change was made, and what was erased. State Senator James Skoufis said the process skipped public input: “There was no public input, there was no feedback outreach and if they had done that outreach they would have heard, the governor’s office, that people did not want the name to change.”¹¹ A November 2025 petition called the renaming one that “bypassed longstanding naming norms and erased a meaningful part of the region’s cultural and linguistic history.”¹²

Polling backed up the discontent locally. A 2017 McLaughlin and Associates survey of 400 likely voters in Westchester and Rockland counties found 53.8 percent disapproved of the new name, only 14.7 percent actively supported it, and 79.6 percent thought local residents should have had a say.¹³ Statewide, a Siena College poll that August was closer, with 44 percent approving and 42 percent opposing.¹⁴

Andrew Cuomo’s resignation as governor in August 2021 amid sexual misconduct allegations gave the restoration effort new energy. A Change.org petition started by Port Chester resident Monroe Mann pulled in 27,000 signatures in its first week and reached roughly 120,000 when it was delivered to the governor’s office in 2018. It stood at about 263,427 verified signatures by mid-2026.¹⁵

Legislative Efforts to Restore the Old Name

Since 2021, lawmakers from both parties have filed bills to put “Tappan Zee” back on the bridge. None has become law.

A06594 (2021–2022), introduced in the Assembly by then-Assemblyman Michael Lawler, stalled in the Assembly Transportation Committee. Chair Bill Magnarelli blocked it in April 2022, citing the costs and time a name change would involve.¹⁶
S4558A (2023–2024), sponsored by Senator Skoufis, was the first version led by a Democrat. The Senate passed it on June 6, 2023, by a vote of 51 to 11, but the Assembly never brought it to a floor vote, and it died when the session ended in January 2024.¹⁷
S5172 (2025–2026), Skoufis’s reintroduced measure with bipartisan co-sponsors, sits in the Senate Transportation Committee as of mid-2026. It would not drop “Cuomo”; it would rename the span the “Governor Mario M. Cuomo Tappan Zee Bridge,” restoring the historic name alongside the current one.¹⁸

The Assembly has been the consistent choke point. Governor Kathy Hochul has not committed either way. In February 2023 she called it “too premature” to say whether she would sign a renaming bill, calling Mario Cuomo “an extraordinary governor” while adding that she would “look at anything that passes.”¹⁹

What the Bridge Is Called Today

Officially, the span is still the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge. The New York State Thruway Authority uses that name exclusively, and state highway signs reflect it.²⁰ In everyday use, most locals still call it the Tappan Zee, and drivers, news anchors, and some state lawmakers do the same in conversation.¹¹ Whether that informal consensus ever becomes official depends on whether the current bill clears the Assembly and reaches the governor’s desk.

1
The Journal News (lohud.com). Tappan Zee: Here’s Where the Name Lives
2
Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge (NY.gov). History of the Tappan Zee Bridge
3
Westchester Magazine. Tappan Zee Bridge Name
4
New York State Senate. Senator Weber Expresses Gratitude for Passage of Bridge Name
5
Empire State Plaza (NY.gov). Hall of Governors: Malcolm Wilson
6
Press Connects. Malcolm Wilson Name on Tappan Zee
7
Federal Highway Administration. Governor Cuomo Bridge Project Profile
8
NBC New York. Mario Cuomo Bridge May Get Renamed to Tappan Zee
9
Empire State Plaza (NY.gov). Hall of Governors: Mario M. Cuomo
10
ABC7 New York. Political World Reacts to the Passing of Former Governor Mario Cuomo
11
ABC7 New York. Mario Cuomo Bridge: Push to Rename Back to Tappan Zee
12
New York Post. Petition Started to Restore Tappan Zee Bridge Name
13
McLaughlin & Associates. Reclaim New York Poll on Tappan Zee Bridge Renaming
14
The Journal News (lohud.com). Mario Cuomo Tappan Zee Bridge Poll
15
Change.org. Return the Tappan Zee Name
16
New York Post. NY Democrats Block Bill That Would Rename Mario M. Cuomo Bridge
17
New York State Senate. Senate Bill S4558A
18
New York State Senate. Senate Bill S5172
19
Spectrum News. Hochul: Too Premature to Weigh In on Cuomo Bridge Change
20
Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge (NY.gov). Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge