Commuters traveling northbound on the Taconic State Parkway will have an easier commute beginning Oct. 3.
The AMVET Bridge will be reopened in time for the morning commute, more than a month ahead of schedule. The bridge is located over the New Croton Reservoir in between Yorktown and New Castle.
The bridge has been closed since March as part of a $26 million rehabilitation project. New York State Department of Transportation Commissioner Joan McDonald was at the bridge with local politicians, touting the bridge’s reopening.
“Rehabilitating the bridge over the reservoir improves safety and provides a smoother ride for thousands of travelers who use this bridge every day,” McDonald said. Â “We thank the public for their patience during construction and are proud to be reopening the bridge more than a month ahead of schedule.”
The section of the parkway that crosses over the reservoir is a six-lane divided highway, with separate bridge spans carrying the north and southbound lanes over the water. The project includes replacing the concrete bridge deck and railing, steel hangers and deck supports, installing new guide rails, and resurfacing the roadway on each end of bridge. Remaining work, including restoration of the crossover areas, bridge painting, and project landscaping, will continue into the spring of 2013.
The northbound bridge, built in 1931 and rehabilitated in 1989, carries more than 32,000 vehicles per day. During the closure, northbound traffic was re-routed onto the southbound span, with two travel lanes in each direction.
New Rochelle-based Tutor Perini Corporation was the contractor for the project.
