Governor Andrew Cuomo's bridge lighting project is expected to be paid for by the MTA and cost upwards of $200 million dollars, according to several knowledgeable sources not in the governor's office. A spokesperson for Cuomo disputes these assertions, despite the fact that the governor has bragged about taking the money from the MTA, and board members of other public authorities were told the project will be funded by the MTA.

Politico reports today that in January of this year, board members of the New York Power Authority were told that the governor's initiative, which would bring LED lighting and coordinated illumination to seven MTA bridges and two tunnels, would be paid for by the MTA. That assumption was again communicated to NYPA board members months later, along with unaudited financial reports pegging the project at $216 million (initial internal estimates put that number at $350 million).

Mayor on @NYGovCuomo's light shows on bridges: "I can tell you that people who ride the subway are not interested in a light show."
— Grace Rauh (@gracerauh) July 19, 2017

According to watchdog group Reinvent Albany, around $40 million from the transit authority has already gone toward LED infrastructure and decorative towers. That money, Cuomo spokesman Jon Weinstein tells Gothamist, came from former capital programs and post-Sandy relief money.

"The MTA is definitively not paying for the Harbor of Lights," Weinstein added. "We are considering options, but as it is a project to generate tourism and economic development, and uses technology for energy efficiency, it will be financed by NYPA and parts of the project could likely be funded by ESD (Empire State Development)."

That response conflicts with Politico's sources in the NYPA, and does not square with the governor's early comments about how the "transformational plan to reimagine New York's bridges and tunnels" would be paid for.

In October of this year, the governor casually mentioned that both LED lighting and cashless tolling initiatives—estimated cost: $500 million—would be funded with money that [then-MTA chairman] "Tom Prendergast has in his back pocket." That pocket money, the Village Voice reports, actually comes from the MTA's $29.5 billion capital plan, which goes toward, among other things, desperately-needed signal repairs for the subway. Of the 14 signal updates or repairs scheduled to begin this year, eight are currently delayed, and only one is expected to be completed before 2018, according to a report issued last month by the Independent Budget Office.

"Where is the evidence that spending hundreds of millions on Harbor Lights will generate enough tourism to be a good investment?" John Kaehny, executive director of Reinvent Albany asked Politico. "Maybe making a giant bonfire and burning $300 million in cash would generate even more tourism jobs and economic activity?"

Mayor de Blasio echoed the watchdog's sentiment, telling reporters on Wednesday afternoon that "people who ride the subway are not interested in a light show."

Maybe so, but Cuomo believes tourists will love it. In one promotional video, the governor notes that the Throgs Neck, Whitestone, Gil Hodges, Verrazano-Narrows, Henry Hudson, Triborough, and Cross Bay are currently lightless. "If they were illuminated," Cuomo noted, "they could be breathtaking, and I believe they could be an international tourist attraction."

As Lynn Minneart, a tourism scholar at New York University, points out, that's not exactly our city's most pressing problem at the moment.

"It's not as if tourism in New York is wavering at all, and we do have other lit up attractions here" she told Gothamist. "From a tourism perspective, it's a fun idea. As an MTA consumer, I'm wondering if it's the best way to use the money."

Anyway, here's the bonkers light show you'll soon be able to watch, should you be fortunate enough to get stuck in an above ground subway.