TBT: Controlled Demolition of East Anchor Span

Crowds gathered to watch this time last year. Here it is in real time and in slow motion courtesy of Kevin P. Coughlin/State of New York. The section looks like it’s floating on the water; however, the perfect fall caused its columns to drop to the river bottom.

Demolition experts placed charges on vertical support structures along the span of the bridge. The charges were timed to detonate in a way that would safely lower the remaining structure eastward, away from the Hudson River’s main navigation channel, according to a fact sheet released by the construction project.

Fitting it happened this month: January 2013 was when the Thruway Authority issued Tappan Zee Constructors, LLC (TZC) Notice To Proceed.

I’d like to know what you think.

Copyright © Janie Rosman and Kaleidoscope Eyes 2020

On My Mind: New Year, Unanswered Questions

Socks, sneakers and wheels indicate a sign of the path to come/NYS Thruway Authority

Wishing you a happy and healthy 2020!

I’ve been asking about artwork on the new bridge since silence enveloped the projects after a Request For Proposal (RFP) last summer. Deadlines for submitting those proposals, and the deadline for installing one of them, were months ago. The next installation deadline comes in the spring.

Patricia Gallagher Newberry, Society of Professional Journalists national president, said, “Censorship has stalked a horrific path through history. This is another instance. It is heartening to find another way to fight this trend toward silencing public employees, which SPJ has identified as a grave risk to public welfare.”

This situation reminded me of a call I received five years ago during my quest for information about a failed silo on one of the two floating concrete batch plants that had arrived months earlier. Why did the contractor also shut down the batch plant that didn’t mechanically fail unless it, too, would experience the same issue at a later time?

An attorney responded, and then I received a call from one of the governor’s then-special advisor not long after about “tidying up” matters. Someone wanted me to stop asking, I’m sure. It took nearly a full year for someone to tell me “the Thruway Authority doesn’t have that kind of information in its records.”

I’d sent a Freedom of Information Act request to the New York State Thruway Authority, whose public information officer stalled me. One year later I learned my hunch was correct. Back then I asked: Would it have been a matter of time before that same malfunction occurred in the second batch plant although both were prepped, inspected and tested identically?

A project source told me: yes, the second plant would have malfunctioned, which I suspect was why the agency stalled, then refused to provide the documents I sought in the request.

One year after that accident, Governor Cuomo ruled on Freedom of Information Law (FOIL). His office reviewed each project-related FOIL request with a fine-tooth comb, sources told me as the FOIL request hit snags that were more like stone walls.

Never stop asking questions.

I’d like to know what you think.

Copyright © Janie Rosman and Kaleidoscope Eyes 2020

Work Done, Super Crane departed Project Site

I Lift NY arriving at its destination/© Janie Rosman 2014

It arrived with great fanfare five years ago and left quietly last weekend. Its work on the project completed, the I Lift NY headed downriver accompanied by three tugboats. The photo below is from a video captured by Felice Ehrlich.

Some stats:

Its lifting Capacity is 1,929 tons, and its boom length is 328 feet. It raised 140 steel girder assemblies, four main span crossbeams, and 120 road deck panels.

First lift was April 2015
Placed first girder in June 2015
Removed first section of TZB in Nov. 2017
Final lift was May 2019

Click here for super crane history and trivia and here for more project details. Curious as to why it had three tugboat escorts.

I’d like to know what you think.

Copyright © Janie Rosman and Kaleidoscope Eyes 2019

Last Piece of Tappan Zee floats in Hudson River

You can see the west anchor span floating atop barges in the river south of the new bridge and not far from its former location. The New York State Thruway Authority photo above is from last week; the former anchor now points south and not east.

It’s odd not to see a portion of the old bridge to the south of the new one; I was surprised to see the span still close by. Here’s a final look at the span next to the new bridge:

Today’s trip to Nyack and Nanuet was bookmarked by vehicles speeding across the westbound and eastbound spans at more than 65 miles per hour. There seem to be no way to enforce the speed limit unless police install those devices that measure speeds. It’s one way for the state to make money instead of increasing the tolls.

Something to think about. I’d like to know what you think.

Copyright © Janie Rosman and Kaleidoscope Eyes 2019

TZB West Anchor Span Removal and Dismantling

Making the last critical torch cut before we could begin to lower our old bridge's 600-foot west anchor span using the yellow-wheeled devices called strand jacks. pic.twitter.com/9rB7JxQh8y

— The New NY Bridge (@NewNYBridge) May 10, 2019

Governor Cuomo was at the project site yesterday to document final removal of the Tappan Zee Bridge, whose east anchor span fell after a controlled demolition early this year. Now in the Hudson River, it will be lifted and removed.

Top of east anchor span that will be lifted, removed from river bottom/© Press Office

While the old bridge became property of the design-build team, the state had an interest in how and when it was removed from the river. Last spring, the main span was lowered onto a bard and removed, and pieces of that span became part of the artificial reefs being built off Long Island.

Remaining west anchor span will be lowered into barges and removed./© Press Office

The remaining west anchor span, attached by four columns, was cut and is being lowered onto barges, then moved south and dismantled.

I’d like to know what you think.

Copyright © Janie Rosman and Kaleidoscope Eyes 2019