Contractor Selected For Twin Bridges Rehabilitation On New York's Northway

ALBANY, NY (06/20/2012)(readMedia)-- Governor Andrew Cuomo today announced that a contractor has been selected for a $29 million project to replace the decks on the Thaddeus Kosciusko bridges carrying Interstate 87 over the Mohawk River between Albany and Saratoga counties. The northbound and southbound structures, locally known as the Twin Bridges, will be rehabilitated through the NY Works program, with construction expected to begin this month.

"This bridge work symbolizes our goal to aggressively give attention to our bridges to extend their useful life without burdening the taxpayers," said Governor Cuomo. "NY Works projects like this create thousands of construction and manufacturing jobs and ensure that New York's businesses can rely on a safe and efficient transportation network.

With today's announcement, a large, complex project is moving into construction less than three months after Governor Cuomo signed the 2012-2013 Budget allowing funding for these projects to move forward.

New York State Department of Transportation Commissioner Joan McDonald said, "Governor Cuomo's NY Works program is successfully advancing project such as this that maintain safety for the more than 100,000 motorists who use this bridge each day for their daily commutes, as well as the long distance travelers and trucks that rely on this bridge to connect them between New York City, Buffalo and Montreal. Keeping that in mind, we have scheduled work with an eye toward minimizing traffic disruptions as much as possible while restoring this important State asset."

Lane Construction Corporation, a national construction contractor based in Cheshire, Conn. and experienced in building heavily travelled interstate bridges, was chosen as contractor through a new Best Value procurement method. This method uses a weighted system, which relies 70 percent on cost and 30 percent on a technical score. A company's technical score is based on their performance and ability to complete the job.

Construction will begin later this month with repairs to the bearings, joints, and concrete substructure. At the same time, pre-cast concrete deck panels will be fabricated off-site. Using pre-cast concrete greatly reduces the amount of traffic impacts, since the concrete does not need to go through the lengthy curing process on-site before being ready for traffic.

Much of the materials needed for the project will be fabricated in the Capital District. Fort Miller Company of Schuylerville will produce the pre-cast concrete deck panels and STS Steel, Inc. of Schenectady will fabricate the steel.

Traffic impacts are expected to be minimal through the busy summer travel season.

Late this summer, deck replacement will begin on the northbound bridge, which will require six weekend closures of the bridge. The weekend closures will not take place until after Labor Day. During the closures, the northbound bridge will close to traffic at 10 p.m. Friday and remain closed until 5 a.m. the following Monday. Lane closures will not occur during the weekdays, in order to avoid negatively impacting the heavily congested morning and afternoon commuting hours.

While the weekend lane closures are in place, traffic heading north will be crossed over onto the southbound bridge. The southbound bridge will carry one lane of traffic heading southbound and one lane of traffic heading northbound during the weekend closures. Weekend traffic delays are expected to be significant.

Next spring, deck replacement will begin on the southbound bridge, which will again require six weekend closures. The weekend closures will again run from Friday at 10 p.m. to Monday at 5 a.m. and are scheduled to be completed before Memorial Day. Traffic heading southbound will be crossed over onto the northbound bridge, with one lane heading in each direction.

Funding from the NY Works program allows DOT to address infrastructure deficiencies by focusing on pavement and bridge decks that are in fair condition and improving their condition to good. This rehabilitation work will better preserve the state's infrastructure and guard against the need for more costly, in-depth construction.

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