Work finally begins on the long-delayed West Thames Street Pedestrian Bridge with a Nov. 15 groundbreaking with a little help from, right to left, Chris Cestone, Senior Vice President, Skanska USA; Thomas Webb, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Skanska USA; Luis Sanchez, Manhattan Borough Commissioner, city DOT; Shilpan Patel, Deputy Director, state DOT; David Emil, President, Lower Manhattan Development Corporation; Shari C. Hyman President & Chief Operating Officer, Battery Park City Authority; Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer; Holly Leicht, Regional Administrator for NY & NJ, Department of Housing and Urban Development; Councilmember Margaret S. Chin; Eric Mayo, Director of Operations, Office of State Senator Daniel Squadron.
BY COLIN MIXSON
A small army of amateur excavators arrayed in phalanx formation — shovels in hand — broke ground on Nov. 15 to kick of the long-delayed construction of a $45.1 million pedestrian bridge set to span the West Side Highway come mid-2018.
The part-time diggers fromally commenced a project that will bring Battery Park City and the Financial District closer than ever before, according to our shovel-wielding borough president.
“The West Thames Street project will quite literally bridge the gap between Battery Park City and the Financial District, benefiting the entire Lower Manhattan community,” said Gale Brewer.
Brewer shoveled dirt with a groundbreaking posse that included state Sen. Daniel Squadron, Manhattan Department of Transportation commissioner Luis Sanchez, Lower Manhattan Development Corporation president David Emil, and Councilwoman Margaret Chin, along with reps from construction company Skanska USA, the Battery Park City Authority, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
At least ten shovels were provided for the ceremony.
The West Thames Street Pedestrian Bridge is a permanent replacement for the temporary Rector Street Pedestrian Bridge, which was constructed in haste in 2002 to provide a crossing over the busy thruway following the destruction of two West St. spans in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The new bridge will span the intersection of West and West Thames Sts. diagonally across from the northeast corner to the southwest.
A permanent span was originally slated to replace the now 14-year-old Rector St. bridge in 2004, but delays occurred through a series of design changes and municipal interventions. The BPCA at one point was prevented by the city from funding the project to the tune of $18 million — and costs have since ballooned to the current $45.1 million budget, or more than $190,000 per linear foot of the 230-foot span.
The Economic Development Corporation has since walked back that proposal, and while there is no fixed date for the demolition of the bridge at Rector St., it’s been pushed back at the very least, according to a Broadsheet report citing Skanska USA engineer Matt Krenek.
“We are withdrawing our earlier plan to demolish the pedestrian bridge at Rector Street before the West Thames Bridge is complete,” Krenek said at a meeting of Community Board 1’s Battery Park City Committee. “But we cannot promise that the Rector Bridge will remain in place until the new bridge is open.”
