SLEEPY HOLLOW, NY—The construction of the new Tappan Zee Bridge, which officially began last October, has already generated $1.2 billion to the Hudson Valley regional economy.
Brian Conybeare, special advisor to Gov. Andrew Cuomo on the $3.9-billion newz Tappan Zee Bridge project, said that Tappan Zee Constructors, LLC, the consortium that is building the span, has spent $1.2 billion thus far on the project. Conybeare, along with other members of the bridge project team, presented an annual report on the new Tappan Zee Bridge called the New NY Bridge in front of a crowd of more than 100 on Wednesday evening at Sleepy Hollow High School.
“This project is already having an economic impact on our area,” Conybeare said. “We have a lot of job opportunities and more and more are coming on line everyday.”
Conybeare said that a total of $505 million has been spent on permanent materials, such as concrete and structural steel; $424 million has been spent on crafts, union labor, subcontractors and DBE supplier firms and $271 million in indirect expenses, such as insurance.
A total of 692 subcontractors and suppliers have been involved in the project thus far, including 307 companies based in New York State; 96 from Westchester County, 42 from New York City, 41 from Rockland and 22 from Orange County. So far, only 35% of the subcontracts have been awarded thus far.
“There is this economic ripple effect that has started and it is only going to grow and continue as this project continues over the next four-and-a-half years,” Conybeare said.
Project leaders also revealed six belvedere designs that will be incorporated at various points on the span that line the recreational path that will be incorporated onto the new bridge.
Approximately four dozen cranes/vessels are currently operational at the project site. During peak construction there will be about 100 vessels working on constructing the new bridge. In late May or early April, the giant Left Coast Lifter, recently renamed the “I Lift NY Super Crane” is scheduled to arrive at the bridge site in late April or early May. The 384-foot long crane has a lifting capacity of 1,929 tons or 12 times the weight of the Statute of Liberty.
The first span of the new twin-span bridge is scheduled to open in 2016, and the new bridge should be complete in 2018.
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