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KEYWORD HIT By Mohamad Bazzi
The Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority says it will no longer let the (lead) chips fall where they may.
In the wake of recent soil testing that found unusually high lead levels beneath several city bridges, TBTA officials say they will use sophisticated air-containment technology for the first time when they begin sandblasting three bridges in Queens and the Bronx later this month.
"From now on, anytime we are sandblasting, we'll be using the new air-containment system," Stan Vonasek, TBTA health and safety director, said at a meeting with residents in Astoria, Queens, last week.
The vacuum-like containment system will employ sensitive filters that engineers say could prevent the billions of tiny particles - including fine lead dust - released by sandblasting from seeping into the air, TBTA spokesman Frank Pascual said.
A study for the TBTA by an environmental testing firm has found lead levels as high as 2,056 parts per million on the Bronx side of the Henry Hudson Bridge near Spuyten Duyvil Park. At Francis Lewis Park, on the Queens side...