Clock starts on Tappan Zee construction

Tappan Zee Constructors L.L.C., the state”™s design-build contractor on the approximately $4 billion Tappan Zee bridge replacement project, began installing permanent steel piles for the new Hudson River crossing this week, marking the formal start of the project.

The bridge-builder”™s $3.1 billion contract calls for completion of the twin spans between Rockland and Westchester counties by April 2018.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo when announcing the formal start of bridge construction called it “the largest infrastructure project New York State has undertaken in decades. After more than a decade of delay, New York State has moved this project forward at a dramatic pace while working with the community, involving the public and protecting the local environment.”

State Thruway Authority Chairman Howard P. Milstein said the state authority and the contracting consortium are “on track to complete this vital link in our regional transportation infrastructure on time and on budget.”

The 3.1-mile cable-stayed bridge will replace the Governor Malcolm Wilson Tappan Zee Bridge which opened to traffic in 1955. Designed to carry up to 100,000 vehicles a day, daily traffic on the oft-repaired structure has grown to about 138,000 vehicles.

New Yorkers can follow the progress of bridge construction at NewNYbridge.com, where images from construction cameras installed at the work site can be viewed.