Tappan Zee Bridge replacement timeline

The aging Tappan Zee Bridge which links Rockland and Westchester counties will be dismantled in 2016.

NY Thruway Officials say in three years all traffic will be shifted to one of two new spans that will replace the bridge.

Construction on the new span begins in June with dredging scheduled for August.

The $3.1B replacement bridge will take five years to complete. The southern span is expected to open by 2018.

The Thruway released renderings of three design concepts last year which are a noticeable departure from the look of the current bridge.

The Governor Malcolm Wilson Tappan Zee Bridge (its official name) opened in 1955 and was expected to last about 50 years. More than 138,000 vehicles cross the bridge every day, far more than it was designed to handle, according to the Thruway Authority. Its accident rate is double the average rate on the rest of the 574-mile Thruway.