The Journal News: Scaffold Law Driving up Costs on New TZB

This week, The Journal News published a letter to the editor written by LRANY’s Scott W. Hobson.  This letter was in response to a September 17 article:  Tappan Zee Bridge: State to fight EPA ruling on loan.  Hobson points to the Scaffold Law as a means of decreasing costs for the new Tappan Zee Bridge project.

An excerpt:

“The recent news that New York State has been denied more than $481 million in federal loans for the construction of the new Tappan Zee Bridge is a timely reminder to take a hard look at the reasons infrastructure construction is so astoundingly expensive in New York.

One of the most significant cost drivers is the New York-only “Scaffold Law,” which imposes total and virtually inescapable liability on contractors and property owners in lawsuits for gravity-related construction accidents. Not surprisingly, this law is the single greatest source of litigation in New York, accounting for more than half of the highest legal settlements in 2012.”

Read Full Letter