Dive Brief:
- The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey reopened the renovated South Walk of the George Washington Bridge on Thursday, according to a news release.
- The project, included in Skanska’s $452 million contract to replace the bridge’s 592 suspender ropes, rebuilt the 1.5-mile pedestrian pathway with widened approach paths and connections to adjacent streets.
- The milestone advances the $2 billion Restoring the George program, an 11-project restoration effort that began in 2013, according to the release.
Dive Insight:
The Port Authority has now completed eight of the program’s 11 phases, with two more ongoing and the last component planned, according to the release.
The renovated walkway features approach paths as wide as 14 feet and slopes no greater than 5%, according to the Port Authority. The work also added a new viewing platform at the New York entrance and an expanded entry plaza in New Jersey.
“The team developed hoisting systems that could be safely utilized with no disruption to normal bridge traffic,” David Murawski, senior vice president of operations at Skanska USA Civil, told Construction Dive. “The custom designed temporary work platforms suspended from the main cable worked in conjunction with the hoisting systems to provide safe and efficient access to all work locations.”
The South Walk closed in February 2023 due to the suspender rope replacement work, during which pedestrians and cyclists temporarily shared the North Walk. Under the new arrangement, pedestrians will now have dedicated use of the South Walk, while cyclists will exclusively use the North Walk.
“Because the anchor points for the suspender ropes were below the sidewalk, it had to be removed first in order to replace the suspenders,” said Murawski. “Once the suspenders were replaced, the sidewalk was restored.”
Skanska will still stay on the site for the next several months to remove temporary conduit and perform extra electrical work, he added.
Other recently completed phases of the Restoring the George program include the replacement of roadway finger joints and 32 deck panels at the bridge’s two towers. This year, teams also completed the rehabilitation of the upper-level eastbound roadway pavement and the ramps on 178th and 179th streets, according to the release.
Ongoing projects include the rehabilitation of the Center Avenue and Lemoine Avenue bridges, as well as the rehabilitation of lower-level steel and replacement of movable maintenance platforms, according to the release.
To wrap up the 11-project program, the Port Authority also plans to rehabilitate components of the Fort Washington Avenue, Broadway, Wadsworth Avenue, St. Nicholas Avenue, Audubon Avenue and Amsterdam Avenue bridges over the Trans-Manhattan Expressway, according to the release.
