ICYMI: Colorful Preview of New Bridge’s Lighting

“TZC will begin preliminary testing of the westbound Rockland approach’s aesthetic lighting in the coming weeks. The preliminary testing will occur during daytime hours.”

The above notice is from the February 16 press release. Thank you to Steve, who contacted me not long ago to say he noticed the colorful lighting tests.

The LED lighting — 2,700 color lights that can be programmed remotely for variable shades and 500 white lights — is from Philips Lighting, the same company that brightens Madison Square Garden.

Philips said the new system, the first of its kind in the industry, will combine roadway and architectural lighting and is estimated to be 75 percent more energy-efficient than traditional lighting.

Photos are courtesy EarthCam® construction camera on the project’s website.

Did you miss seeing them, too? I’d like to know what you think.

Copyright © Janie Rosman and Kaleidoscope Eyes 2017

More than half of 192 Stay Cables are in Place

Before you tell me to keep both eyes on the road and hands on the wheel: I did. Mom was with me and caught the late afternoon sun casting shadows.

“What are those pointed things on top?” she indicated with a finger.

I explained about the main span towers and the roadway and said the new bridge is supported differently than the current bridge is.

Nearly four years ago, the Visual Quality Panel let public decide if the new towers’ tops would be angled or squared. While vastly unlike the current bridge, the new one has more than 100 of its eventual 192 stay cables fully anchored and tensioned to the main span roadway.

Next was the eastbound span (visible until it ended), bright blue and higher than the Thruway. “Are we going to drive on that?” she asked.

I’d like to know what you think.

Copyright © Janie Rosman and Kaleidoscope Eyes 2017

Connecting Rockland Approach, a fifth Gantry and ongoing Main Span Channel Closures

Sleepy Hollow Lighthouse seen from the new bridge’s westbound span/© Janie Rosman 2016

Since media were invited onto the new westbound span, crews connected the Westchester approach and the main span, the Rockland approach and the main span are being connected, and there will soon be a fifth overhead gantry. Did we miss the fourth?

Tha main span navigation channel continues to be closed periodically until next December. While boaters may be pleased to hear this, I’d like to enjoy the spring, summer and fall before winter comes around again.

Click here for complete information.

I’d like to know what you think.

Copyright © Janie Rosman and Kaleidoscope Eyes 2017

Few More Glimpses around the NNYB Project Site

Did you see the I Lift NY making its 2017 debut lift on the Westchester side?

Crew member well-protected against the elements: BRR, it’s COLD out there!

A pile cap for the as-yet-unfinished eastbound span prepared under the TZB.

Not seen from the road: crews adjusting a section of steel for the main span.

Photos courtesy of New York State Thruway Authority.

I’d like to know what you think.

Copyright © Janie Rosman and Kaleidoscope Eyes 2017

Aftermath of That Morning in December 2014

View from the EarthCam® construction camera in Tarrytown December 16 at 9:15 a.m.

Sometimes you follow your gut, and the resistance you encounter tells you you’re onto something, so you push harder. I FOILed the Thruway Authority shortly after the batch plant accident more than two years ago and was consistently stalled.

View from the EarthCam® construction camera in Tarrytown December 16 at 9:30 a.m.

What the agency gave me was five internal emails from TZC stating an incident happened, and no one was hurt. Thankfully. My FOIL request ended with a project official calling me “to tidy things up,” after which the Thruway Authority’s legal department told me it considered the matter closed.

Really? Here’s what I recently found that confirmed I was on the right track.

Concrete Silo Collapse By Jenna Ebersole

Law360, Washington (January 7, 2016, 8:19 PM EST) — The contractor replacing the Tappan Zee Bridge in New York sued two companies based in Wisconsin and Switzerland Thursday in New York federal court, accusing them of shoddy work that led to the collapse of silos on a concrete plant mounted to a marine barge in the Hudson River in 2014.

Tappan Zee Constructors LLC said Maxon Industries Inc. and X-Tec Swiss AG designed and constructed defective silos, seeking at least $25.7 million for higher costs as a result, including labor, equipment and other construction costs. The group said that the silos on one barge that collapsed in December 2014 were defective and that the constructors discovered similar defects with the second plant.

“Defendants’ acts or omissions to act, including their deficient and inadequate structural design of the silos in accordance with the applicable silo-design code service loads, and their failure to construct hopper and vertical wall steel plating thickness in accordance with X-Tec’s own fabrication shop drawings, caused the collapse,” the group said.

The constructors said they signed an agreement in May 2013 with Maxon for two batch plants, including the silos, after coming to an agreement on two new bridge structures over the Hudson between Rockland County and Westchester County. Maxon then entered an agreement with X-Tec for certain designs, the group said.

“Maxon and X-Tec knew that the batch plants were to be mounted on marine barges and used on the Hudson River,” Tappan Zee Constructors said.

Maxon was [nearly one year] late on a promised Aug. 1, 2013, supplying of the plants, the constructors said, but they were used as intended until the collapse of one silo [December 2014], which pulled down two adjacent silos. The group then discovered defects with both plants, the constructors said.

The complaint said the constructors group “was compelled to stop using the batch plants and required to materially alter its concrete operations until it determined and effectuated appropriate modifications and repairs to the batch plants and obtained a third batch plant to supplement its operations.”

The group alleges breach of contract, negligence and malpractice, among other claims.

“Defendants acted negligently and breached their duty of care by, among other things, providing an inadequate structural design of the silos under applicable silo-design code service loads,” the constructors said.

Representatives for the parties could not immediately be reached for comment late Thursday.

The constructors group includes Fluor Enterprises Inc., American Bridge Company, Granite Construction Northeast Inc.and Traylor Bros. Inc. in a joint venture, according to its website.

Tappan Zee Constructors is represented by Paul Monte of Peckar & Abramson PC.

Counsel information for Maxon Industries and X-Tec Swiss was not immediately available Thursday.

The case is Tappan Zee Constructors LLC v. Maxon Industries Inc. and X-Tec Swiss AG, case number 1:16-cv-00126, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

–Editing by Patricia K. Cole

Reprinted from http://www.law360.com