Since Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the demolition of the old Kosciuszko Bridge in February the public has been given conflicting information about the set date of the bridge’s impending end.
There were rumors that the implosion would occur in July and then again in September but according to Community Board 5 and a member of the Stakeholders Advisory Committee (SAC) for the project said the bridge is set to topple on Oct. 1 at 8 a.m.
“We have just been informed that the contractor has completed the preparatory work needed for the implosion of the approaches to the old Kosciuszko Bridge,” the SAC member wrote in an email sent to QNS. “If weather conditions remain favorable and there are no unanticipated complications in the field, the New York State Department of Transportation intends to proceed with implosion of the remaining portions of the old Bridge on Sunday, October 1, 2017, at 8:00 a.m.”
QNS reached out to the DOT to confirm the date and time of the implosion and is awaiting response.
During the February announcement, Cuomo said that the implosion would save the state seven to nine months of construction. The main span of the bridge was lowered on a barge and shipped to New Jersey in July.
The governor held a grand opening ceremony for the first phase of the bridge in April, which opened three lanes of traffic in both directions. The $555 million twin cable-stayed spans will be officially completed in 2020 with five lanes of traffic for the Queens side and four lanes of traffic for the Brooklyn side.
The controlled demolition will not blow up the bridge but will cut key connections that cause the spans to fall, a spokesperson for Cuomo said in February.
The Brooklyn and Queens spans will drop straight down onto berms made of soil to control vibration; no debris or dust is expected to fall as the spans will drop intact instead of in pieces.
