Edward
October 8th, 2002, 02:15 AM
New York Daily News - http://www.nydailynews.com
All that roadwork has city at a crawl
By ROBERT INGRASSIA
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Monday, October 7th, 2002
A rash of bridge construction has drivers across the city howling the same refrain: You can't get there from here.
The latest epidemic broke out last week over the Harlem River, where the start of a three-year project on the Third Ave. Bridge snarled traffic.
Miserable Bronx drivers have lots of company. Thousands of weary travelers are enduring long-term work on the Triborough, Manhattan and George Washington bridges.
"When they close part of the bridge, it kills my business, said Quang Tran, 37, a Chinatown grocer who commutes over the Manhattan Bridge from his home in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. "I sell fresh fish, but not when I'm stuck on the bridge."
Especially maddening are the orange barriers that line alternate routes. Drivers trying to skirt the Third Ave. span encounter work on the Tribor-ough. Those avoiding the Triborough find a mess on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.
One silver lining is that New York City, once home to some of the most decrepit bridges in the country, has made tremendous strides in fixing its stable of river crossings.
Since starting work 20 years ago, crews have overhauled the Brooklyn, Williamsburg and Queensboro bridges. Repairs to the Manhattan Bridge, which began in the early 1980s, wrap up in early 2004.
Never-ending story
The bad news is that there's no end in sight to construction headaches.
"Our highway system was built in the 1930s, '40s and '50s, mostly with a planned life span of 30 years," said Sigurd Grava, an urban planning professor at Columbia University. "We're facing construction for the foreseeable future, if not forever."
Four more Harlem River bridges are awaiting major repairs. So are the Battery Tunnel and Whitestone Bridge.
And major freeways leading to Manhattan will be torn up in the coming decades. The jammed Gowanus Expressway, which is falling apart and routinely undergoes emergency repairs that tie up traffic, could be rebuilt or replaced with a tunnel.
Other big projects coming down the pike include work on the FDR Drive, the Belt Parkway and the Cross Bronx Expressway. New Jersey and Long Island leaders are mulling plans for multiyear freeway work.
Road planners said they try to reduce the pain by scheduling as much work as possible at night and during nonrush hours. But they acknowledge that with more people, jobs and cars in the region, even midday and nighttime traffic can seem like rush hour.
Officials said they attempt to coordinate projects so that two main routes from one area to another don't get blocked at the same time.
But several factors have conspired to thwart that goal. One problem is that the city put off repair work during the fiscal crises of the 1970s and 1980s, creating a huge backlog of desperately needed repairs.
Up for grabs
When repair money finally started flowing in the 1980s and 1990s, politicians were eager to grab the funds while the grabbing was good.
"The bridges are all being done at the same time because they can get the money," said Rae Zimmerman, director of the Institute for Civil Infra-structure Systems at New York University.
Another reason drivers see so much work going on at once is that some major projects take 10 years or longer to complete.
The $1 billion rehab of the Triborough, for example, won't be done until 2007. Waiting that long to begin work on the crumbling Harlem River bridges wasn't feasible, city officials said.
"We try our best to keep people informed about what's happening," said Tom Cocola, a city Department of Transportation spokesman. "But I'm not going to say there's no pain."
With Kerry Burke
It's a bridge too far for the madding crowd
THIRD AVE. BRIDGE
Start: Sept. 2002
Finish: April 2005
Agency: New York City
Cost: $118 million
Purpose: Bridge rebuilding
For drivers trying to travel between the Bronx and Manhattan, things are going to get worse before they get better.
The city is in the middle of a two-decade effort to repair all eight Harlem River bridges. Two spans are done, two are under construction and four more await overhauls.
The newest squeeze began last Thursday when crews closed part of the Third Ave. Bridge. Officials have tried to ease the jam by reversing one lane of the Willis Ave. Bridge.
Day one was awful. Befuddled drivers clogged Bruckner Blvd. while new traffic patterns jammed the FDR Drive. A person who threatened to jump from the Third Ave. Bridge made matters worse.
"This is going to be rough," said Hector Torres, 40, a parking garage worker who commutes to Manhattan from Castle Hill, the Bronx. The last phase of work on the Macombs Dam Bridge, which will begin now that the Yankees' season is over, promises to throw another wrench into the works. And when the Third Ave. project is done, the city will begin shutting down the Willis Ave. Bridge in 2007.
Bill Egbert
GEORGE WASHINGTON BRIDGE
Start: Dec. 1999
Finish: Spring 2003
Agency: Port Authority
Cost: $26 million
Purpose: Rebuilding ramps
Don't blame the bridge. The tremendous steel towers that hold up the two-deck span are as strong as ever. They're even getting a paint job that'll make them look as good as new.
But the 13 ramps that connect the bridge to roads in Manhattan and New Jersey are another story. Until three years ago, when the Port Authority started fixing them, they were scarred by years of abuse.
One by one, ramps have been closed or narrowed for repairs. The work has led to backups on the Henry Hudson Parkway as evening traffic lines up to squeeze onto the bridge.
Some urban planners said the bridge - and the two Hudson River tunnels - will remain jam-med until another passenger rail tunnel from New Jersey into Manhattan is built.
In the meantime, drivers like Susan DeLuca, 40, have learned to worm their way through the bottleneck. Her secret is the Martha Wash-ington Way entrance in New Jersey. "Don't tell anyone," said DeLuca, who commutes 90 minutes a day from Cliffside, N.J., to Stamford, Conn.
Austin Fenner
MANHATTAN BRIDGE
Start: 1982
Finish: Jan. 2004
Agency: New York City
Cost: $500 million
Purpose: Rebuilding and painting
It's no joke: The Manhattan Bridge has been under construction for 20 years. Repair work is 14 years behind schedule.
Repairs are almost done. Really. This time the city means it. By January 2004, all car lanes and train tracks will be back in service - or else the contractor will be fined $50,000 a day.
Jaded drivers and business owners in Chinatown and the lower East Side said they'll believe it when they see it.
"The Manhattan Bridge took less than 10 years to build but 20 years to repair," said Adrian Achan, 34, a FedEx driver from Howard Beach, Queens.
The bridge was in awful shape before repairs began. A design flaw - train tracks on the outside instead of down the middle - caused the decks to bounce up and down as much as 10 feet. Decades of corrosion left metal supports dangerously thin.
Repairs in the 1980s were bogged down by bureaucratic infighting and legal wrangling between the state and its lead contractor. But during the past several years, work has marched along.
Kerry Burke
TRIBOROUGH BRIDGE
Start: 1997
Finish: 2007
Agency: Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Cost: $1 billion
Purpose: Major overhaul
Until a few weeks ago, renovations on the three-pronged behemoth Robert Moses built were moving along without causing too much traffic chaos. But then officials determined an aging ramp that funnels traffic from Queens into Manhattan needed immediate repairs.
Originally scheduled to be rebuilt one lane at a time, the ramp has been squeezed from three lanes to one. The crunch will last until next month.
"Before, it wasn't that bad. But now, forget it," said Juan Rodriguez, 50, who drives an oil truck over the bridge several times a day.
During the project, crews will widen the Bronx toll plaza, build new access ramps to Randalls Island and redeck the entire bridge.
Warren Woodberry, Jr.
LONG ISLAND EXPRESSWAY
(From Grand Central Parkway to Midtown Tunnel)
Start: June 1999
Finish: 2005
Agency: New York State
Cost: Unavailable
Purpose: Rebuild roads, bridges
They're done repairing the Midtown Tunnel. Good luck getting to it.
The main road leading to the tubes has been torn up for more than three years - three very long, very frustrating years for Queens and Long Island commuters.
Coupled with an increasing number of cars and trucks using the highway, the construction has led to insane traffic jams. "I am trying to get myself reassigned so I don't have to come into the city," said Nick Giannakakis, 25, an air conditioner repairman who lives in Bayside, Queens.
The roadwork won't eliminate congestion, since the project isn't adding much capacity. But crews are re-building 27 bridges, putting in better drainage and lighting and making curves and dips safer.
Ruth Bashinsky
All that roadwork has city at a crawl
By ROBERT INGRASSIA
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Monday, October 7th, 2002
A rash of bridge construction has drivers across the city howling the same refrain: You can't get there from here.
The latest epidemic broke out last week over the Harlem River, where the start of a three-year project on the Third Ave. Bridge snarled traffic.
Miserable Bronx drivers have lots of company. Thousands of weary travelers are enduring long-term work on the Triborough, Manhattan and George Washington bridges.
"When they close part of the bridge, it kills my business, said Quang Tran, 37, a Chinatown grocer who commutes over the Manhattan Bridge from his home in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. "I sell fresh fish, but not when I'm stuck on the bridge."
Especially maddening are the orange barriers that line alternate routes. Drivers trying to skirt the Third Ave. span encounter work on the Tribor-ough. Those avoiding the Triborough find a mess on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.
One silver lining is that New York City, once home to some of the most decrepit bridges in the country, has made tremendous strides in fixing its stable of river crossings.
Since starting work 20 years ago, crews have overhauled the Brooklyn, Williamsburg and Queensboro bridges. Repairs to the Manhattan Bridge, which began in the early 1980s, wrap up in early 2004.
Never-ending story
The bad news is that there's no end in sight to construction headaches.
"Our highway system was built in the 1930s, '40s and '50s, mostly with a planned life span of 30 years," said Sigurd Grava, an urban planning professor at Columbia University. "We're facing construction for the foreseeable future, if not forever."
Four more Harlem River bridges are awaiting major repairs. So are the Battery Tunnel and Whitestone Bridge.
And major freeways leading to Manhattan will be torn up in the coming decades. The jammed Gowanus Expressway, which is falling apart and routinely undergoes emergency repairs that tie up traffic, could be rebuilt or replaced with a tunnel.
Other big projects coming down the pike include work on the FDR Drive, the Belt Parkway and the Cross Bronx Expressway. New Jersey and Long Island leaders are mulling plans for multiyear freeway work.
Road planners said they try to reduce the pain by scheduling as much work as possible at night and during nonrush hours. But they acknowledge that with more people, jobs and cars in the region, even midday and nighttime traffic can seem like rush hour.
Officials said they attempt to coordinate projects so that two main routes from one area to another don't get blocked at the same time.
But several factors have conspired to thwart that goal. One problem is that the city put off repair work during the fiscal crises of the 1970s and 1980s, creating a huge backlog of desperately needed repairs.
Up for grabs
When repair money finally started flowing in the 1980s and 1990s, politicians were eager to grab the funds while the grabbing was good.
"The bridges are all being done at the same time because they can get the money," said Rae Zimmerman, director of the Institute for Civil Infra-structure Systems at New York University.
Another reason drivers see so much work going on at once is that some major projects take 10 years or longer to complete.
The $1 billion rehab of the Triborough, for example, won't be done until 2007. Waiting that long to begin work on the crumbling Harlem River bridges wasn't feasible, city officials said.
"We try our best to keep people informed about what's happening," said Tom Cocola, a city Department of Transportation spokesman. "But I'm not going to say there's no pain."
With Kerry Burke
It's a bridge too far for the madding crowd
THIRD AVE. BRIDGE
Start: Sept. 2002
Finish: April 2005
Agency: New York City
Cost: $118 million
Purpose: Bridge rebuilding
For drivers trying to travel between the Bronx and Manhattan, things are going to get worse before they get better.
The city is in the middle of a two-decade effort to repair all eight Harlem River bridges. Two spans are done, two are under construction and four more await overhauls.
The newest squeeze began last Thursday when crews closed part of the Third Ave. Bridge. Officials have tried to ease the jam by reversing one lane of the Willis Ave. Bridge.
Day one was awful. Befuddled drivers clogged Bruckner Blvd. while new traffic patterns jammed the FDR Drive. A person who threatened to jump from the Third Ave. Bridge made matters worse.
"This is going to be rough," said Hector Torres, 40, a parking garage worker who commutes to Manhattan from Castle Hill, the Bronx. The last phase of work on the Macombs Dam Bridge, which will begin now that the Yankees' season is over, promises to throw another wrench into the works. And when the Third Ave. project is done, the city will begin shutting down the Willis Ave. Bridge in 2007.
Bill Egbert
GEORGE WASHINGTON BRIDGE
Start: Dec. 1999
Finish: Spring 2003
Agency: Port Authority
Cost: $26 million
Purpose: Rebuilding ramps
Don't blame the bridge. The tremendous steel towers that hold up the two-deck span are as strong as ever. They're even getting a paint job that'll make them look as good as new.
But the 13 ramps that connect the bridge to roads in Manhattan and New Jersey are another story. Until three years ago, when the Port Authority started fixing them, they were scarred by years of abuse.
One by one, ramps have been closed or narrowed for repairs. The work has led to backups on the Henry Hudson Parkway as evening traffic lines up to squeeze onto the bridge.
Some urban planners said the bridge - and the two Hudson River tunnels - will remain jam-med until another passenger rail tunnel from New Jersey into Manhattan is built.
In the meantime, drivers like Susan DeLuca, 40, have learned to worm their way through the bottleneck. Her secret is the Martha Wash-ington Way entrance in New Jersey. "Don't tell anyone," said DeLuca, who commutes 90 minutes a day from Cliffside, N.J., to Stamford, Conn.
Austin Fenner
MANHATTAN BRIDGE
Start: 1982
Finish: Jan. 2004
Agency: New York City
Cost: $500 million
Purpose: Rebuilding and painting
It's no joke: The Manhattan Bridge has been under construction for 20 years. Repair work is 14 years behind schedule.
Repairs are almost done. Really. This time the city means it. By January 2004, all car lanes and train tracks will be back in service - or else the contractor will be fined $50,000 a day.
Jaded drivers and business owners in Chinatown and the lower East Side said they'll believe it when they see it.
"The Manhattan Bridge took less than 10 years to build but 20 years to repair," said Adrian Achan, 34, a FedEx driver from Howard Beach, Queens.
The bridge was in awful shape before repairs began. A design flaw - train tracks on the outside instead of down the middle - caused the decks to bounce up and down as much as 10 feet. Decades of corrosion left metal supports dangerously thin.
Repairs in the 1980s were bogged down by bureaucratic infighting and legal wrangling between the state and its lead contractor. But during the past several years, work has marched along.
Kerry Burke
TRIBOROUGH BRIDGE
Start: 1997
Finish: 2007
Agency: Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Cost: $1 billion
Purpose: Major overhaul
Until a few weeks ago, renovations on the three-pronged behemoth Robert Moses built were moving along without causing too much traffic chaos. But then officials determined an aging ramp that funnels traffic from Queens into Manhattan needed immediate repairs.
Originally scheduled to be rebuilt one lane at a time, the ramp has been squeezed from three lanes to one. The crunch will last until next month.
"Before, it wasn't that bad. But now, forget it," said Juan Rodriguez, 50, who drives an oil truck over the bridge several times a day.
During the project, crews will widen the Bronx toll plaza, build new access ramps to Randalls Island and redeck the entire bridge.
Warren Woodberry, Jr.
LONG ISLAND EXPRESSWAY
(From Grand Central Parkway to Midtown Tunnel)
Start: June 1999
Finish: 2005
Agency: New York State
Cost: Unavailable
Purpose: Rebuild roads, bridges
They're done repairing the Midtown Tunnel. Good luck getting to it.
The main road leading to the tubes has been torn up for more than three years - three very long, very frustrating years for Queens and Long Island commuters.
Coupled with an increasing number of cars and trucks using the highway, the construction has led to insane traffic jams. "I am trying to get myself reassigned so I don't have to come into the city," said Nick Giannakakis, 25, an air conditioner repairman who lives in Bayside, Queens.
The roadwork won't eliminate congestion, since the project isn't adding much capacity. But crews are re-building 27 bridges, putting in better drainage and lighting and making curves and dips safer.
Ruth Bashinsky