by James Murdock

It seems as though every road, bridge and tunnel in the metropolitan New York area is under construction this summer.

But to the credit of engineers and contractors, any congestion that drivers encounter is likely to be routine. That means, despite the roadwork, few travel lanes will be surrendered.

To ensure that traffic does flow normally, construction teams throughout the region have developed some creative solutions.

Triborough Bridge
In a 16-year project that began in 1997 and will cost more than $1 billion, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is reconstructing all three portions of the Triborough Bridge. It is the largest repair job since the structure opened in 1936 and the single largest rehabilitation that the MTA has ever undertaken.

During the current phase, a $144 million project that began in December 2000 and will be completed in March, a 60/40 venture between American Bridge Co. and Koch Skanska is replacing all 368 suspender ropes and roadway decks on the East River span, as well as widening and replacing decks on the Queens Viaduct.

"By the time we finish the job, the whole bridge will be entirely new, except that you can't see that because we're working lane by lane," said Kwadwo Osei-Akoto, the project manager at American Bridge. "The whole objective is to make sure that we place as minimal restrictions on the traffic as possible."

With 166,000 motorists traveling over the bridge each day, the job isn't easy. To avoid closing lanes on the 2,724-ft.-long East River span, where the existing concrete decking is being replaced with steel orthotropic panels, American Bridge commissioned custom-designed overhead cranes.

Manufactured by Demag Cranes & Components, the Ohio-based subsidiary of SMS Demag AG, the $3 million system is a souped-up version of cranes commonly found inside factories. Resting on the bridge's structural supports, three cranes hang over the roadway and hoist panels into place while allowing traffic to pass unobstructed. "We spent a lot of money on the crane initially, but it pays for itself because it's safer and very efficient," Osei-Akoto said.

On the Queens Viaduct, American Bridge is replacing the existing concrete deck with new concrete panels. Instead of the high-tech Demag cranes, it is using two 3000-W crawler cranes. "You can hardly get them anymore," Osei-Akoto said. ,"We found these in Alabama and they are at least 50 years old, but we needed something that was narrow because of the lane restrictions."

Garden State Parkway
Site restrictions are also the buzz along the Garden State Parkway in Middlesex County, N.J. General contractor PKF Mark III Inc. has just 10 to 12 in. of buffer zone between the existing Driscoll Bridge, which carries 260,000 vehicles a day, and a new span it is constructing.

And because of fish spawns in the Raritan River, PFK can only work in the water during summer months.

There will be a lot of water work this summer. Rather than damming the river to drive piles for structural supports, PFK is drilling foundation holes from a floating barge through 60 to 70 ft. of water. The technique - an increasingly common method called drilled-shaft construction - uses a reverse-circulation drill to bore cavities into the bedrock: in this case, 52 shafts that are 19 ft. deep and 6 ft. in diameter.

"It's very efficient," said Pete Getchell, president of Pennsylvania-based PFK. "You're working on top of the water all the time so you don't have to build coffer dams, you don't have to excavate and you don't have to dewater."

PFK was awarded the $84.4 million contract to build the new 4,380-ft. span last fall. It was subsequently awarded a $22.3 million contract to realign and widen approach ramps to the existing bridge.

Rob Fischer, construction manager for the New Jersey Highway Authority (which recently merged with the New Jersey Turnpike Authority), said that since the Driscoll Bridge opened 50 years ago, its traffic capacity has been increased by narrowing existing lanes and eliminating shoulders.

Still, the bridge is one lane short in each direction compared to the rest of the Garden State Parkway. "It's an effective bottleneck," Fischer said.

After the new bridge is complete, the existing structure will be resurfaced and then reopen to accommodate only northbound traffic. With both bridges open, the Garden State Parkway will finally boast seven lanes and shoulders in each direction. The project is scheduled for completion in October 2006.

Route 18
Slattery Skanska Inc. appears to have caught a break in its $75.9 million job to extend Route 18 through Rutgers University: Between June 1 and Aug. 15 this summer, the main campus road, Metlars Lane, is closed to allow construction of the ramps, loops and traffic circles that will link it to the new parallel route.

But appearances can be deceptive. The construction team needs as much time as it can get due to a long list of project constraints, including close proximity to residential areas, fish spawns in Metlars Brook and the remains of a British fort that dates from the Revolutionary War. If archeological artifacts are unearthed, construction must cease for 30 days.

Architectural finishes within the project will also require extra time and attention. Slattery Skanska is constructing six bridges out of stained concrete, for example, and will then paint the structures by hand to resemble rough-cut natural stone. Building with real stone would require more long-term maintenance and is more expensive.

Work on the project began in July 2002 and has already been slowed by the harsh winter and wet spring.

Despite these and other hurdles, the project is on target to deliver by its September 2004 deadline. Robert Marlow, the senior project manager at Slattery Skanska, said that the first and most important phase should be completed this fall. More than 60 percent of the entire job, it includes constructing four of the six continuous-span bridges over existing roads and Metlars Brook.

Whitestone Expressway
One project that will no doubt attract serious attention in coming years is the replacement of the northbound Whitestone Expressway Bridge over the Flushing River in Queens. The New York State Department of Transportation awarded a $177 million contract to a joint venture between Tully Construction Corp. and AJ Pegno Construction Corp. in January.

The current structure, built in 1937, is a drawbridge that handles more than 85,000 vehicles each day. It will be replaced with a continuous span made of high-performance steel tub girders. Rated grade 485, the steel will resist corrosion and require less maintenance.

"This is the first bridge in the city to use it," said John Elias, the engineer-in-charge of the project at the New York State Department of Transportation. But do not look for all bridges to follow suit. "It's durable steel, but it's costly," Elias added.

To maintain all travel lanes during the job, a temporary span will also be constructed over the river. Additional project phases entail rehabilitating the Whitestone Expressway at grade level between Linden Place and 3rd Avenue, constructing a new ramp from the northbound Van Wyck Expressway to the northbound Whitestone expressway and rehabilitating the southbound Whitestone Expressway ramp to the southbound Van Wyck Expressway.

Preparatory work on the site, which includes driving roughly 3,800 pilings, will be completed this summer. The entire project will deliver in August 2006. There is a $2.5 million incentive to finish early.

Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel
Another project just getting started is the four-year, $65 million rehabilitation of the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. The joint venture between Tully and Grace Industries Inc. is repairing roadway slabs in both tubes for the MTA, bringing fire lines up to code, installing new drainage systems, fixing leaks and replacing broken tiles.

The project's initial stage, which began this spring, consists of cleaning air ducts to remove soot from automobile exhaust and dust from the Twin Towers' collapse on Sept. 11, 2001.
Ensuring that traffic is not impacted will be a serious challenge given that this project involves a tunnel. Timing is everything. Each night, one tube will be closed for work and traffic will be diverted into the other tube.

"The contractor has basically eight hours to do the work," said Yalcin Tarhan, vice president and project manager for Parsons Brinckerhoff Inc., the design engineer. "Scheduling the right amount of work - and that includes pouring the concrete and allowing the right amount of time for it to cure - will be the most challenging aspect."

Brooklyn-Queens Expressway
Two of the region's biggest jobs are finally nearing completion. After three years, Slattery Skanksa is within striking distance of finishing work on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

The $228.8 million contract includes reconstructing 2 mi. between the Broadway exit and 25th Avenue in Queens and reconstructing the Grand Central Parkway connector ramp.

Peter Franco, the project manager at Slattery Skanska, said the remaining phases entail building the new Grand Central connector ramp and finishing work on the BQE span over Northern Boulevard.

NYSDOT will likely add two small contracts for granite artwork and sound walls to be installed at the eastbound Grand Central connector, which Slattery Skanska will assimilate into the project's final phase, due to deliver in March.

Long Island Expressway
The reconstruction of an interchange between the Long Island Expressway and the Cross Island Parkway is another project that is nearly complete. After three years of construction, all ramps should be opened by this month.

The job's remaining tasks are cosmetic - removing temporary barriers, digging drainage ditches and restriping pavement - and involve landscaping.

The landscaping is a big item. Of the project's entire $130 million budget, $40 million is devoted to restoring environmentally sensitive areas and building nature trails in parkland that surrounds the intersection.

"This job has the largest landscaping package included in the work," said Snehal Shah, the project engineer in charge at NYDOT. "This is a very, very dense tree area. Everything you see from the sky is green."

Not just green, but blue. General contractor Perini Corp. is dredging Alley Pond, a 1.8-acre body of water nestled in the interchange's southeastern corner. Perrini will also submerge an oil separator unit to help prevent hazardous automobile byproducts from draining into Little Neck Bay. The work should be completed by October.