Content area
Full Text
New York City subway riders traveling to the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn can look out the window at workers just a few feet away--a close-up view of one of the more complicated bridge rehabilitation projects in the U.S. The $750-million fix of the 94-year-old Williamsburg Bridge, split into seven contracts over a decade, will end long uncertainty about the venerable 1,600-ft-long crossing and hopefully seal its fate into the next century.
Lead abatement concerns, the use of a new orthotropic deck and a $150-million change order are just some of the challenges faced by the joint venture of Perini Corp., Framingham, Mass., and Torrington, Conn.-based O&G Industries Inc., that is tackling a major portion of the repair of the East River cable suspension bridge. The work must allow for the passage of trains, vehicles and pedestrians between Brooklyn and Manhattan, since heavy rehabilitation is also occurring at other city crossings.
RESCUE The structure almost did not survive in its original form. In 1988, its owner, the New York City Dept. of Transportation, had to completely close it to traffic for seven months because of its deteriorated condition. Inspections found 30 areas of major corrosion in the structure (ENR 4/21/88 p. 10). Three contracts worth a total of $40 million had already been done just for emergency repairs. ``In one, we replaced every third suspender,'' says Connie Crawford, former project engineer for locally based design firm Steinman Boynton Gronquist & Birdsall who is now NYCDOT deputy chief bridge engineer.
The agency received unsolicited proposals for new bridge designs, and finally went as far as short-listing five teams offering cable-stayed, suspension and combination structures (ENR 6/9/88 p. 12). But building a bridge in another location would have caused too much negative community impact for businesses located near the Williamsburg, and replacing the structure would have meant closing it to traffic for many months. Doing so for just a few weeks caused a major public outcry.
The agency hired Steinman to design the rehabilitation. A major concern was keeping the crossing open to the 100,000 vehicles that use it every day, says Anthony Grosso, vice president for construction for Greenman-Pedersen Inc., a New York City engineer that does construction inspection for the project. ``The DOT needed to...