Last Updated: February 10, 2010

Roslyn Viaduct Update

• Chris Roberts

Ah, the Roslyn Viaduct, gateway to all points west. This is a project that has plowed on at glacial speed since it first broke ground in the spring of 2005. Here is the latest information provided by New York Department of Transportation (DOT) public information officer Eileen W. Peters, “The Roslyn Viaduct Replacement Project is now 76% complete. We hope to meet the current projection that the job will be completed by the end of 2010.”
The cost of the entire project is estimated at $131,600,000, and is being financed by the federal and New York State governments. This past fall, the DOT published a newsletter reporting that “a total of 174 new bridge segments was erected between the spring of 2008 and December 2008 for the northern half of the viaduct. The average weight of each segment is 70 tons, for a total of 12,000 tons erected.” With that finished, workers are currently constructing its southern half. The huge yellow gantry, visible to all viaduct travelers, is used to move the gargantuan bridge segments.
The DOT web site indicates that the viaduct’s project development began in winter 1992/1993, and construction commenced in spring 2005. Should it conclude at the end of 2010, it will have taken 5 ½ years to complete. In case you were wondering, the Golden Gate Bridge was built in four years; the upper deck of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge was a five-year project; the Chrysler Building was completed in four years, and the Empire State Building was thrown together in 410 days. The good news is scholars estimate that the Great Pyramid of Giza was a 10-year endeavor, which may make the Roslyn Viaduct project eligible for the title of Eighth Wonder of the World, should it drag on much longer.
Anyone interested in getting up-to-the-minute status updates on the project can call the DOT hotline number at 1-877-4-VIADUCT. And, most importantly, keep up the good work evading those ubiquitous cones.

 

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