By Judy Rife; Times Herald-Record
Posted Oct. 6, 2014 @ 7:33 pm
NYACK – One of the world’s largest floating cranes, in the wings in Jersey City since January, finally took center stage at the construction site of the new Tappan Zee Bridge on Monday. The crane, known as the I Lift NY, got the kind of gushing welcome that celebrities are accustomed to – including a declaration of love from Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
“I truly love this crane,’’ said Cuomo, surrounded by dozens of crane-ogling journalists and officials on a 149-passenger ferry off Piermont. “Every New Yorker should love this crane because it’s saving us a lot of money – as much as a billion dollars.”
The crane was a factor in the ability of Tappan Zee Constructors to win the $3.1 billion contract to design and build the new TZB, underbidding its two competitors by almost $1 billion in the process. Its superior lifting ability will allow much of the new bridge’s superstructure to be assembled off site and hoisted into place, slicing time and expense off the construction bill.
Darrell Waters, TZC’s president, said the crane will start work this week, and construction, concentrated in the river until now, will become more vertical and visible by the end of the year.
“We are 24 percent complete and we are on time and on budget,’’ said Waters, adding that 65 percent of the piles that will ultimately support the new bridge’s piers have been installed.
What surprised the welcoming party on the ferry was how ordinary the partially collapsed crane looked as it glided toward the TZB at four knots – despite sitting on a barge the size of a football field.
Its jaw-dropping size only became apparent when the ferry swung around it and the crane could be viewed against the bridge – and then it towered over the bridge and the 130 other pieces of construction equipment, including 31 cranes, in the water.
TZC will fill the barge with water and further collapse portions of the crane Tuesday in preparation for moving the I Lift NY beneath the bridge, 139 feet above the Hudson at low tide, Wednesday. Waters said he expects to have three feet of clearance.
As the ferry returned to Piermont, Cuomo was peppered with questions about what the tolls will be when the new bridge opens in 2018, a subject he has avoided in this election year.
The governor said that the state needs “a little more information” before it can speculate about the tolls. He pointed out incentives and penalties in the construction contract, as well as additional state or federal aid, could ultimately affect the project’s cost and the amount to be raised through tolls.
“It’s four years down the road,’’ he said.
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