MTA Bridges and Tunnels announced that work to repair and restore damage to the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel caused by Superstorm Sandy is set to begin next week and will require nightly closures of one tunnel tube through 2018. In addition, there will be weekend-long closures of one tunnel tube at least once a month.

One tube will be closed nightly Monday to Friday between 9:30 p.m. and 5:30 a.m. The weekend-long single tube closures will begin Friday night at 9:30 p.m. and continue through 5:30 a.m. Monday morning. In addition, one tube will also be closed for routine maintenance work Sunday night beginning at 11 p.m. through 5:30 a.m. Monday. During these times there will be one lane in each direction in the remaining tube.

The work is part of a four-year, $282.5 million contract that was awarded to Tully Construction Company in December to make permanent repairs to the tunnel, which was flooded with some 60 million gallons of water during Superstorm Sandy.

The Sandy restoration work will be coupled with some previously planned Capital Improvement projects in an effort to get the projects completed quickly and more efficiently.
MTA Bridges and Tunnels President Jim Ferrara said the Hugh L. Carey tunnel project is the largest construction contract in the agency’s history. “Not only will this project restore and improve the tunnel it will increase the level of resiliency against future weather events.”

Among the resiliency measures included in the project are installation of submersible drainage pumps at tunnel pump rooms in Manhattan, Brooklyn and at Governors Island, and raising the elevation of various electrical control system components to reduce vulnerability to flooding.

Restoration work includes replacing the entire traffic control and communications, lighting, drainage pump and fire line systems; making concrete repairs; installing new LED lights and emergency way-finding safety lights; replacing tunnel wall tiles, ceiling finishes, catwalks and duct banks; rehabilitating curbs and gutters and repaving the tunnel roadways. The Brooklyn toll plaza will also be rehabilitated to improve traffic flow.

The project is being funded with a portion of the $336 million in FEMA grant money received for Sandy-related repairs at the Hugh L. Carey and Queens Midtown tunnels, and through MTA Bridges and Tunnels’ Capital Budget Program.

The contract for Sandy-related repairs and resiliency work at the Queens Midtown Tunnel is expected to be awarded in the next several months and work is expected to begin this summer.

(YWN Desk – NYC)