GOVERNOR CUOMO: TAPPAN ZEE PROGRESS REPORT . NEW BRIDGE WILL OPEN IN 2018

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WPCNR ALBANY ROUNDS. From the Governor’s Press Office. December 14, 2016:

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the New NY Bridge has reached a major milestone with the topping off of the eight main span towers, and with the final concrete pour completed this week.

The New NY Bridge is on track to open in 2018 and on budget at $3.98 billion. Additionally, 90 percent of support structures on the project are installed, including the fabrication and placement of 126 steel girders sections.

To date, 3,000 roadway panels have been installed to connect the Rockland and Westchester shorelines up to the iconic main span, taking one of the largest active bridge projects in the nation one step closer to completion.

“Replacing the Tappan Zee Bridge with such a magnificent structure sends a powerful message to the world that nothing is too big or too difficult for the Empire State,” Governor Cuomo said.

“This is one of the largest projects ever undertaken by the state of New York. With the topping off of the eight main span towers, we have reached a major milestone in our continued progress and are on schedule to open in 2018 and on budget. The new bridge will be built for the ages and strengthen our region’s infrastructure for generations to come.”

Governor Cuomo inspected progress at the New NY Bridge project site this morning, including the tower’s construction, stay cable installation, structural steel placement, road deck installation and other key aspects.

New NY Bridge Milestones include:

· Towers: The 419-foot towers stand at a five-degree angle, and are the most iconic feature of the new bridge. They are 100 feet higher than the top of the current Tappan Zee Bridge and feature a sleek, chamfered design. All eight towers on the westbound and eastbound spans will be completed this week with the final concrete pour.

· Support Structures: Approximately 90 percent of support structures have been completed, including the fabrication and placement of 126 steel girder assemblies. Fourteen steel girder sections will be installed on the eastbound span starting next year.

· Piles: The last pile was recently driven into the Hudson River and more than 1,000 piles have been installed to date. The steel structures serve as the foundations for the new bridge. If laid end-to-end, the piles would stretch for more than 50 miles.

· Roadway: More than 3,000 road panels, each 12-feet long, ranging between 22 and 45 feet wide and nearly 11 inches thick, have been installed. This accounts for 3.4 miles of road deck for the approaches of the bridge.

· Structural Steel: More than 220 million pounds of steel will be installed and the project is using more than 300,000 cubic yards of concrete – enough to build a sidewalk from the project site to Key West, Florida. The project’s floating batch plants have produced more than 200,000 cubic yards of concrete to date.

· Cables: More than one third of the 192 stay cables have been fully anchored and tensioned on the main span. If laid end-to-end, the cables would stretch 14 miles. When completed, they will total 700 miles of metal strands.

· Super Crane: The I Lift NY super crane has been hard at work setting steel. The super crane is capable of lifting the equivalent of 12 Statues of Liberty at once and will help with the demolition of the existing Tappan Zee Bridge.

The New NY Bridge is one of the biggest active bridge projects in the nation and the largest in the history of the New York State Thruway Authority. In all, more than 6,300 people have contributed to the New NY Bridge project thus far, totaling more than 8 million hours of man power. At the Governor’s direction, the Thruway Authority has managed this project since 2013 with two fundamental objectives, to first open the bridge in 2018, and second, finish the bridge at or below the budgeted cost of $3.98 billion.

The twin-span crossing will replace the six-decade-old Tappan Zee Bridge, which is used by an average of 140,000 vehicles every day. The 3.1-mile bridge will include eight general traffic lanes, four breakdown and emergency lanes, space for future bus rapid transit and commuter rail, a bicycle and walking path with six unique viewing areas, cashless tolling, and energy efficient LED lighting. The state-of-the-art bridge will not require any major structural repairs for at least 100 years.

High resolution photos and renderings of the progress are available here and a time lapse video of the project is available here.

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