Cuomo Tours New Cuomo Bridge, TZB Center Span Removed

TARRYTOWN, NY — The dismantling of the retired Tappan Zee Bridge continued Tuesday with the first of the five main span sections being lowered onto a barge. The process in which the 532-foot-long center section is removed is expected to be completed by 3 p.m. Wednesday.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo toured the new Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge Tuesday as the work continued.

“There’s a milestone that we’re going to reach today which is, we’re taking down one of the five sections of the main bridge,” Cuomo told a boat full of reporters and local officials.

He said that New York was leading the nation in rebuilding infrastructure to meet the demands of the 21st-century economy.

“For decades, the Tappan Zee Bridge was a symbol of government incompetence but today’s lowering of the main span of the old bridge marks the critical progress we have made,” Cuomo said.

SEE ALSO: Recycled TZB Materials To Become Artificial Reefs

“The new Mario M. Cuomo Bridge is critical to the growth and sustainability not only of the region, but of the entire state as we build a better, stronger New York,” he said.

The 2,415-foot main span of the TZB will be removed in five separate operations, the first of which began overnight Monday. Eight hydraulic strand jacks are lowering the 4,750-ton suspended center span onto a barge to be transported offsite for further disassembly.

The four other operations are scheduled to take place in the coming months. Barge-based cranes will remove two cantilever truss sections, while the two anchor spans will be lowered onto barges with the assistance of strand jacks.

After the main span dismantling, the “I Lift NY” floating super crane will assist with the removal of the main span’s steel support structures.

The main span removal operation is expected to be completed by late fall.

Westbound traffic from the state Thruway (I-87/I-287) was shifted onto the new bridge’s westbound span Aug. 26, 2017.

The 62-year-old Tappan Zee Bridge was officially retired Oct. 6, 2017, after eastbound traffic was transferred to the westbound span in a temporary traffic configuration of four traffic lanes in each direction.

Since then, design-builder Tappan Zee Constructors has been dismantling the old bridge while continuing to construct the eastbound span, which is scheduled to open later this year.

Photo credit: Kevin P. Coughlin/Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo.