New Kosciuszko Bridge Won't Come Cheap
In October, a Department of Transportation panel narrowed the list of potential designs for the new Kosciuszko Bridge down to three finalists, including what The Brooklyn Paper calls the front runner, above. In addition to a new look, the bridge of the future will have nine lanes instead of six (yay!) as well as a…
In October, a Department of Transportation panel narrowed the list of potential designs for the new Kosciuszko Bridge down to three finalists, including what The Brooklyn Paper calls the front runner, above. In addition to a new look, the bridge of the future will have nine lanes instead of six (yay!) as well as a bike and pedestrian lane; the whole thing will be set at less of an incline than the current structure because tall boats no longer go underneath. All this good stuff won’t come cheap though: We’re looking at a $1 billion price tag. Sounds like a lot of dough to us, but apparently that’s what it takes to get bridge builders out of bed these days. For a bridge that is a mile long in New York City, $1 billion is the going rate, said DOT spokesman Adam Levine. The Feds will pay 80% of the freight, leaving the state with the rest. But the state is now talking about slashing its transportation spending, so it remains to be seen of the bridge, over which 160,000 vehicles pass every day, makes the cut.
The Billion-Dollar Bridge! [Brooklyn Paper]
“he bridge of the future will have nine lanes instead of six (yay!)”
Nothing to yay about, quite the contrary. Add lanes and traffic increases.
see Gingerbread house already 1/2 off. BHO was right.
Without seeing figures on the estimates is purely speculative to see how much labor costs factor in. It is just the kneejerk response to blame labor/unions. Yes I’m sure would cost less if brought in truckloads of illegal laborers and set up a work campsite for them and paid them a few $ per hour. Or just skip paying them end of week.
Do you really think in this econ. climate the City will go for non-NYC labor over a local co. to save $$$ and time? Maybe they should, but it’s so doubtful that it would ever happen.
Maly;
Please refer to IMBY’s comparison.
Your comparison is flawed. That bridge was built under a crash program to replace a collapsed bridge.
I would refer you to do the math in IMBY’s example. 4 km = approximately almost 13,000 feet.
“Don’t we need some kind of panel of experts to discuss planning of the new bridge for a few years before we attempt to build this thing? Say at a cost of $700 million?”
Planning has been going on for decades. Also for the Goethals Bridge twinning, the Gowanus Expressway replacement, and of course the 2nd Avenue subway and #7 extension. I sometimes think these projects are mostly to employ the designers and planners. Actually putting a shovel in the ground is beside the point. I was stunned when the train to JFK actually got built over the Van Wyck. Of course that was a Port Authority job paid for by a dedicated surcharge on airplane tickets.
IMBY;
Thank you!!!!
You New yorkers think you are so special. Benson and Dibs, you get special demerits for getting ideology get ahead of facts. Guess how much the collapsed bridge in Minnesota cost to rebuild? $234M. Guess how long? 1,200ft. I know it’s early for the math, but with 5,200 ft to a mile, what does that mean for our NY bridge budget relative to a Minnesota bridge?
Oh and Pete, one more thing.
The asking price for the Gingerbrad house was 12.5 million. Unless there is a new math out there, the cost of this bridge would therefore be 80 times that amount. Hence my order-of-magnitude statement that you were off by a factor of 100.
For comparison.
In Charleston, SC they just finished building (2005) the longest cable-stayed bridge in the western hemisphere at 4km in length. Eight lanes wide with pedestrian/bike lanes. Total cost $700 million. Not only came in under cost but also sooner than predicted. Swedish construction company Tidewater Skanska built it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Ravenel_Jr._Bridge
Don’t we need some kind of panel of experts to discuss planning of the new bridge for a few years before we attempt to build this thing? Say at a cost of $700 million?