As travelers approach the Tappan Zee Bridge from Rockland County, they will soon get a glimpse of the future: An overhead gantry and related equipment is being installed at exit 10 on the southbound New York State Thruway in South Nyack for a temporary all-electronic toll collection (AETC) facility. Following a series of tests this fall, the system will be activated in spring 2016, enabling motorists to pay their toll while maintaining highway speeds. Like the Model-T and the 8-track tape player, the inconvenience of stopping or slowing down to pay a toll soon will be a thing of the past.

Over 60 million pounds of steel bars will fortify the new bridge, more than three times as much steel as is in the iconic Eiffel Tower in Paris. Each of the reinforcing steel bars, called rebar, is treated through a process called “hot-dip galvanization” that provides additional protection against rusting.

By the sweat of their brow, construction workers have made impressive progress on the New NY Bridge project. But with near triple digit temperatures increasingly becoming the norm, keeping more than 1,000 workers on the Hudson River at any given time hydrated is of paramount importance.