BY CORY TISCHBEIN
The MTA is spending $20 million to renovate the Triborough Bridge.
To keep it in optimal condition, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is giving nearly every area of the bridge a "state of the art makeover," said Rocco D'Angelo, the bridge's deputy chief engineer and director.
Twenty million dollars is being spent to dehumidify the 71-year-old bridge's anchorage space and to re-anchor 37 cable strands. The dehumidification will keep the cables in the anchorage dry and working properly, allowing it to continue linking Manhattan, the Bronx and Queens at the juncture of Randall's Island.
"The work behind the scenes, for example, this anchorage maintenance, is as important as the work in plain sight," D'Angelo said.
Tully Construction, the company the MTA chose to work on this contract, will clean and spread selected cable strands, build enclosures for better protection of the cable strands, replace the sidewalks and catwalks at the anchorage, patch chipped areas and reconstruct deteriorated sections of the anchorage.
The work on the bridge is expected to be completed in fall 2009.
