LoHud By Khurram Saeed June 7, 2013
The public will soon be able to watch the new Tappan Zee Bridge rise before their wired eyes.
Tappan Zee Constructors has hired EarthCam, a webcam technology company, to stream the five-year construction of one of the largest bridge projects in the nation. The images will be delivered in high definition over the Internet using multiple cameras.
“Everyone is interested in this project and it will help people better understand what we’re doing,” Tappan Zee Constructors spokeswoman Carla Julian told The Journal News on Thursday.
Over the years, EarthCam, based in Hackensack, N.J., has documented major construction projects for governments nationwide, including the rebuilding of the World Trade Center.
Initial plans call for placing three cameras around the project site. Julian said the locations are still to be determined as the Tappan Zee Constructors works out access issues.
She expected ultimately there would be more cameras offering detailed views. She pegged the figure at fewer than 10.
The webcams are expected to go online in the coming months to document all aspects of the $3.9 billion project.
Tappan Zee Constructors and EarthCam are still in the early stages of negotiating costs since the level of service hasn’t been determined, Julian said.
People will be able to see real-time streaming video on the project’s website, www.newnybridge.com, and share their favorite images via social media, including Facebook and Twitter. EarthCam also will edit the images into a time-lapse movie.
“It’s going to capture everything,” Julian said. “It’s going to be really cool.”
There is already some construction activity taking place in the Hudson, but it will intensify in the coming months and years, starting with the installation of the first piles that will support the new parallel spans.
Some 100 construction barges will dot the river by next year and by 2016, after the first new span opens, people will get a chance to see the existing Tappan Zee Bridge demolished.
EarthCam said project teams will keep a close eye on activities since the cameras will have robotic capabilities allowing them to remotely pan the job site and zoom in for a detailed view.
“Our team is thrilled to be the construction camera provider for the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement project,” Lisa Kelly, EarthCam’s strategic sales manager, said in a statement. “The new state-of-the-art bridge will drive economic growth to the area and we’re excited to share views of the progress with the public.”
This isn’t the first major bridge project of which EarthCam has been a part. It documented the construction of the Lake Champlain Bridge in upstate New York a few years ago and is still chronicling the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge project.
The company’s website, www.earthcam.com, also offers links to a network of live webcams around the U.S. and the world.
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