U.S. Concrete Business Approaches Three-Mile Bridge Schedule

Eastern Concrete Materials, Inc., a business unit of U.S. Concrete, Inc., has begun a contract covering land-supplied ready mixed for the New Tappan Zee Bridge. The $3 billion-plus Hudson River crossing will succeed an obsolete, maintenance-prone structure, dating to the mid-1950s and presently carrying upward of 140,000 metro New York commuters between Rockland and Westchester counties.

In early-2013, the New York State Thruway Authority issued a notice to proceed with the design and construction of the new eightlane bridge to Eastern’s customer, design-builder Tappan Zee Constructors (TZC). The design-build process is a streamlined approach to construction that saves time and money over the traditional designbid-build approach.Concrete volume in the supply contract will be determined as the structure’s design takes shape. Regardless of the ultimate design, Eastern Concrete will have the capacity to serve the most volume-driven of pours; as the market leader in ready mixed, the producer has 17 plants in the northern New Jersey and New York City metro area.

The TZC team, comprised of Fluor Enterprises, American Bridge Co., Granite Construction Northeast, and Traylor Bros., plus consultant HDR Engineering, was among three design-build teams vying for the New Tappan Zee Bridge. TZC’s $3.1 billion proposal for a sinuous, cable-stayed, dual-span, twin bridge was chosen for competitive initial and long-term maintenance costs. The design and construction plan also posed the least disruption to the Hudson River ecology while satisfying other requirements for schedule, function, appearance and reduced maintenance.

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New Tappan Zee Bridge.
Construction and opening of the new bridge, together with demolition of the old bridge, will proceed in phases with final completion scheduled for 2017. Constructed of low maintenance, “100-year life concrete,” the new crossing will be the widest bridge of its length in the world and will have eight traffic lanes, a bike and pedestrian walkway, and provisions for a rail transit installation.