So, we are down to the wire with the Tappan Zee Bridge/I-287 Corridor public comment period, which ends Monday. The Project Team has said it will announce the preferred public transportation alternative for the corridor (Bus rapid transit, commuter rail, a combination of one of those with light rail in different sides of the 30-mile corridor…) The so-called “multi-modal” decision will deterimine if the project will favor a rebuilt or replaced Tappan Zee Bridge. So after a decade, we may know some real information in May.

Well, this morning’s pothole-induced traffic tieup just gives a daily newspeg to the ongoing saga.

Since I joined the Editorial Board in September 2006, I’ve spent plenty of time looking at maps, wading through reports, and going to various meetings about the TZ/I-287 overhaul plan. And, I had paid attention before, and even attended meetings as a resident who lives darn close to the bridge and highway. And you know what? I still feel like I need to know more before trying to say what’s right for the region. (Especially because the best alternative for Orange County, Rockland, Westchester, Putnam and beyond may not be the same one.)

Want to find out more, or express your ideas about the plan? Here’s the place with the information. This has all kinds of details about the environmental review, the alternatives (or options) etc. But, it also makes clear the more you know, the more you realize there’s so much more to know.

Another way to find out more is go to tonight’s informational presentation on the future of the Tappan Zee Bridge and Interstate 287 corridor from 7:30 to 9:30 in the Gathering Room at Kendal on Hudson, Routes 9 and 117 in Sleepy Hollow. The event is hosted by the League of Women Voters of Rockland and the League of Women Voters of Westchester, and the Project Team leader will be there, along with many members of the various task forces that have been studying the project.

For Western Ramapo residents, there’s a public forum to discuss the project’s mass transit options hosted by county legislators Joe Meyers, Alden Wolfe and Doug Jobson, in partnership with Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee. The meeting, at 2 p.m. April 13 at Suffern Village Hall, comes after the public comment period is closed, and that’s too bad. A lot of residents on this side of the county haven’t paid attention, figuring the big impact will be in the Nyacks and Tarrytown, when Suffern and Hillburn could see major impacts, as well. This meeting would have given Western Ramapo residents a chance to get some information and join the discussion with the TZ/I-287 Project Team, which will make the bottom-line decisions.