[NYguy]

Meanwhile, the new Kosciuszko Bridge (Brooklyn/Queens) will get underway also...


http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...sEnabled=false

State seeking suitors to build new Kosciuszko Bridge
Department of Transportation begins compiling short-list of potential contractors;
first major step toward construction, slated to start fall 2013








By Irving Dejohn
January 29, 2013

State officials are creating a short-list of suitors that will get a chance to reshape a vital link between Brooklyn and Queens.

The Department of Transportation has released a Request for Qualifications to pick candidates to design and build the new Kosciuszko Bridge.

“It’s the first official step in the process to selecting a contractor and starting construction,” said agency spokesman Adam Levine. “After many years of work to get to this point, this is a step that says ‘Yes, we are really going to build a new Kosciuszko Bridge.’”

From those RFQ submissions, a handful will be invited to respond to a Request for Proposals and be in the running for the construction contract.

The aging 1.1-mile span that carries the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway over Newtown Creek has deteriorated beyond repair. The construction of a new crossing was expedited last year when Gov. Cuomo allocated $460 million for the project via the New York Works Program.

Once existing structures on state-acquired land in the construction zone is demolished, a new six-lane bridge will be constructed next to the current Queens-bound span. Then the old Kosciuszko will be demolished. Officials expect to award the contract for that phase by this summer and finish it by 2018 with an estimated cost of $550 million.

A separate contract will be awarded to construct three additional lanes in the second phase, which will bring the new total to nine lanes of traffic. Construction is expected to last until 2020.