You say One Month, & They say a Different One

Winding down to the finish line yet still behind schedule for the first span to open. Maybe no one really knows as there’s still much work to be done before rubber meets roadway on the new Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge.

Weather may be a factor in the delay; however, a nearly-six-month delay is a bit much. “If the Thruway Authority doesn’t have the keys to the new bridge by March or April of 2018, then the contractor will be charged $100,000 per day for each day beyond that,” one source said in 2014. That’s the 62-month mark.

With eight or nine months until next spring, it seems unlikely both spans will open by then. “The bridge will open sometime in 2018,” other reporters and I hear and continue writing. No one is sure when.

You may be able to see some of the new westbound span’s lighting fixtures; not so easy with the upper main span tower’s aesthetic lighting fixtures. Periodic testing is on the way.

There’s also progress at the new maintenance facility in Tarrytown this week and footing and retaining wall construction — that includes galvanized steel sheets — for the new police facility on the south side of the Thruway.

About three-quarters of the eastbound span’s 96 stay cables have been installed, and yes! the eastbound span now has one of its eventual eight overhead gantries.

Another reporter said, “The Tappan Zee Constructors, the group of contractors tasked with designing and building the bridge, also need to stripe the driving surface.”

The consortium is Tappan Zee Constructors not the Tappan Zee Constructors. Further, Tappan Zee Constructors needs not need to stripe the driving surface. No editing prior to publication?

First photo courtesy of New York State Thruway Authority.

I’d like to know what you think.

Copyright © Janie Rosman and Kaleidoscope Eyes 2017

Tower Crane Removal; Structures Underway

Checking out the cranes as the towers gain height via jump forms/© Janie Rosman 2016

Six months (brr!) ago the towers ceremoniously got their last cement pour, after which tower cranes began to remove the blue jump forms that helped build them.

The blue forms are a thing of the past, and recently the main span tower cranes said their goodbyes to the project. No longer needed, the second of two red tower cranes that helped construct the main span will soon be gone.

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Instead of calling the driver in front of you names for crossing the solid line to get in front of you — HELLO. Other. Driver. It’s. A. Solid. Line. For. A. Reason. — look to the right (if it’s safe to do so). You’ll see additional concrete walls and formwork on the new maintenance facility in Tarrytown.

Here’s what it looked like yesterday per the New NY Bridge’s webcam. Near the top right (on the south side of the Thruway) are retaining walls and footing for the new state police facility.

I’d like to know what you think.

Copyright © Janie Rosman and Kaleidoscope Eyes 2017

Super Crane Limbos Again — under Three Spans

There’s something a little different about this photo . . . /EarthCam® construction camera

Have you figured out what’s different about this photo? C’mon, you must have guessed. Here’s another hint from 14 hours earlier in the day.

Now you see it, now you don’t: super crane has moved!/EarthCam® construction camera

The project team kept silent about a certain three-span maneuver (focusing our attention on other doings); your intrepid reporter received a tip.

Back on the southern side 31 months after arriving here/EarthCam® construction camera

No crane in sight, and then it appeared on the other side of the Tappan Zee. Thank you to the source who alerted me yesterday afternoon.

Crane clears the Tappan Zee Bridge/© Janie Rosman 2014

It must have been tricky since the two new spans are considerably higher than the current bridge. You remember the planning involved last time, right? It limboed under the bridge — aided by extra low tide that added an extra foot or two of clearance — two days after its arrival.

With that in mind, the unspoken question on many people’s minds is, “When?”

If the original plans had been followed, then the westbound span would have opened in late 2016: west/northbound traffic was to have moved to the new span in December, and two months later, in February 2017, east/southbound traffic was to have moved to that span.

Hmm.

I recall hearing the bridge builder has incentives for completing the full bridge and all its accents by March/April 2018, and there would be penalties “if the Thruway Authority isn’t handed the keys to the new bridge by that date or if it’s completed even one day later.”

Said by a source working on the project. Were these guidelines abandoned?

I’d like to know what you think.

Copyright © Janie Rosman and Kaleidoscope Eyes 2017

Happy Anniversary: Four Years of Blogging

Spring after the project started: “Figure Sitting at RiverWalk Park”/© Janie Rosman 2013

Four years ago I began writing this blog about what seemed at the time long-range plans that would “some day” materialize. And now, “some day” is here.

Six hundred ninety-three posts — in addition to countless newspaper and magazine articles — later, I still have mixed feelings about the project. It’s exciting to watch from afar and to cover, and it was an adventure to stand on the new westbound span last December. This area will change forever and will have a safer, more efficient crossing, both badly needed.

Aerial view of new/current spans/(Kevin P. Coughlin/Office of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo)

However, unless the highway on both sides of the river is also revamped, I foresee gridlock as more cars pour off the bridge in both Westchester and Rockland.

I’m still wondering about the shared use path. Without it, the state would have a majestic new bridge minus the added situations the path is creating. Three years ago I wrote that the belevederes, while interesting, gave little thought to practicality or to those who would use the path. Perhaps there’s still time to add shade.

Educational outreach’s fourth year at White Plains Engineering Expo/© Janie Rosman 2017

One official associated with the project joked last year the state could make money by selling soda, iced tea and water at the viewing areas because people may forget to bring hydration. That’s a good idea: remember, you read it here.

The Peregrine falcons are popular, and everyone wants to know where they are. Type “peregrine” into the search box to bring up falcon-related posts. This photo of their nesting box was taken about two years ago, when the bridge was a skeleton in the river.

Secret revealed! When in New York, they live here on the bridge’s northwest side./NYSTA

Less than eight weeks before the Governor Malcolm Wilson Tappan Zee Bridge opened, my parents got married. Directions to Lake Placid — where they honeymooned — from New York and New Jersey begin with “Take the NY State Thruway (I-87) north . . .” The new bridge was to open in two months; the Taconic State Parkway was “it” back then, mom said.

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This year part of “some day” comes to fruition: two-way traffic will switch to the new westbound span, and the current bridge will be dismantled so the eastbound span can be completed and connected to the landings. They said everything that’s supposed to be completed by 2018 will be finished. So be it!

I’d like to know what you think.

Copyright © Janie Rosman and Kaleidoscope Eyes 2017

Engineering Expo and Recognizing Rebar

Today was a perfect chance to learn about the bridge project, what with plenty of experts at the Engineering Expo ready to answer questions. I bet you were there trying to stump one of them.

Not possible. You’d have learned, however, the main span towers are 1,200 feet apart at each end of the channel, and their platforms are 14 feet thick and more than 360 feet long. It took a lot of concrete — 11,000 cubic yards, to be exact — to fill them. And you’d have learned lots more.

While there I visited several exhibitors and, among other things, learned how sewers are relined using a sophisticated method. What caught my eye was an object on the table that was the same size and shape as something I’ve seen before.

I asked the woman if it was rebar; she said yes, it was, and seemed surprised I recognized it. Between you and me, I wouldn’t know a rebar sample from a hole in the wall had it not been for the educational outreach presentations. Speaking of which, check out photos from today here.

I’d like to know what you think.

Copyright © Janie Rosman and Kaleidoscope Eyes 2017