Work removing the Hudson River Park’s Pier 25 deck resumed Monday for unknown reasons after two weeks of limited work on the long-delayed park.
The crane that was needed to remove the deck left the Tribeca waterfront July 31, according to Milo Hess, a contributing photographer to Downtown Express and a Tribeca resident. Hess and other witnesses said they had seen little work on the park in the interim.
Noreen Doyle, a Trust vice president, told Downtown Express two weeks ago that the work stoppage came in response to Con Edison concerns about the utility’s underwater cable near the piers. Con Ed raised objections to the Trust’s pile driving plans, prompting the Trust’s contractor, Weeks, to readjust the schedule and remove the crane needed for deck removal, Doyle said.
Christopher Martin, the Trust’s spokesperson, said he did not know why the crane came back. He said the Trust, a state-city authority, has still not come up with a new pile driving method acceptable to Con Ed, but the $70-million Tribeca section will nevertheless open on time in 2009. Under the Trust’s permit, this season’s pile-driving work must stop by Oct. 31. Martin said some preparatory work needed for deck removal did continue during the delay.
