Vice President Joseph Biden, Jr. and Mayor Michael Bloomberg were at the Brooklyn Bridge on Wednesday to announce that $30 million in federal funding from the Economic Recovery will go towards repairing the 127-year-old historic landmark.
The reconstruction will cost $508 million, $286 million of which New York City will compensate.
The project, which is set to be complete by 2014, requires painting the bridge over and widening approach ramps to free up traffic flow, creating roughly 150 jobs, including 44 preexisting jobs.
“Here’s the deal. This and the Golden Gate Bridge are the two most recognized bridges in the entire United States of America, among the two most recognized bridges in the world. To be here, to be able to be part of helping restore this iconic bridge is a pretty neat thing,” said Biden, according to NY1. “This project symbolizes nearly 1,200 bridge projects that are underway under the American Reinvestment Act.”
“You can see there’s deterioration on these bridges, flaking. And what we’re also doing is at the same time that we’re repairing the bridge and upgrading the infrastructure, we’re expanding the capacity on the bridge,” said city Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, according to NY1.
Due to construction the Manhattan-bound entry of the Brooklyn Bridge will be closed off for 24 weekends. However, New Yorkers and tourists can still frequent its bike path and walkway.
About 120,000 vehicles pass through the 6,000-foot suspension bridge on a daily basis.
