Second span of new Kosciuszko Bridge to open Thursday

The new Kosciuszko Bridge, foreground is shown in front of the old Kosciusko Bridge Wednesday, April 26, 2017, in New York.

NEW YORK (AP) - The second span of the new Kosciuszko Bridge between Brooklyn and Queens will open to traffic early Thursday morning.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo made the announcement on Sunday. Before its opening, Cuomo says the public will get a chance to bike or walk over the new bridge from noon to 6 p.m. on Wednesday.

The completed bridge features five Queens-bound traffic lanes and four Brooklyn-bound lanes as well as a 20-foot-wide pedestrian and bicycle pathway. It's expected to handle 200,000 drivers per day.

The $873 million project is the first major bridge built in New York City since the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge in 1964. The original Kosciuszko Bridge opened in 1939.