[WRE UPDATE | PROJECT]


Left to Right, Tony Fastuca (ASC Industries),


Jason Lemberg (Bilco Group) and John Glinski (TZC Constructors)


Photo courtesy of Jen McInerney The I Lift NY super crane is currently undergoing


preparations for its job on the New NY Bridge project. Photo courtesy of the New York State Thruway Authority


> SUPER CRANE


SENT OVER FOR SUPERSIZED PROJECT


Permanent pile installation. Photo courtesy of the New York State Thruway Authority


went into service, and inspection schedule, among many other essential facts. On that particular February day, he noted that more than 3,300 pieces of rigging equipment had already been delivered to the New NY Bridge operation since the program was implemented about a year earlier. In addition, the reader system is adaptable for use in the field. “Our engineers have the ability to see what rigging is available on the job at what location. So when they do a lift plan—which I have to review also—they can see what size rigging is available, so we don’t have to keep buying more and more rigging.” Readers are also distributed throughout the site for inspection purposes so that all information is synchronized and updated. “Doing it this way is a major cost-reduction for a


project of this scope,” Glinski adds. When President Barack Obama visited the Tappan


Zee project site in mid-May, he praised the TZC team for keeping the project ahead of schedule—especially because, as he observed, “At times, you can see the river through the cracks in the [bridge] pavement.” Over the past decade alone, an estimated $750 million has been spent on maintenance of the ailing Tappan Zee Bridge. y


76 MAY-JUNE 2014 WIRE ROPE EXCHANGE


This past Christmas season, the U.S. Coast Guard sent an oversized package from San Francisco on an enormous barge down the southern coast of Mexico, through the Panama Canal, onward through the Caribbean Islands and the Gulf of Mexico, around the southern coast of Florida, and up the East Coast to its final destination in New York Harbor. Registered by the Coast Guard as the Left Coast Lifter, one of the largest floating cranes in the world, officials in Albany have nicknamed the colossal machine I Lift NY. It’s now owned by Tappan Zee Constructors LLC. The 6,000-mile journey was no easy passage for


the 400-foot-long crane. Both the crane and its vessel had to be modified for open-ocean travel. The barge had to be fitted with special wave guards to protect its precious cargo from damage, and a specially designed “cradle” had to be welded onto the bow of the barge to carry the crane’s 300-foot boom. To fit through the Panama Canal, the large pontoons that stabilize the crane for lifting multi-ton loads had to be removed. According to a statement from New York Governor


Andrew Cuomo, “The I Lift NY super crane can lift the equivalent of 12 Statues of Liberty at once, and its ability to lift huge modular components of the new bridge into place and to help dismantle the old bridge will reduce construction time by months and reduce project costs by millions of dollars.” Upon its arrival in New York, the super crane


was whisked away to a private facility down-river in Jersey City so that crews could make preparations and adjustments before putting I Lift NY into service on the New NY Bridge. It’s expected to arrive at the construction site in June. y


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