Mounted on a 150-foot tower and boasting a 130-foot lifting arm, this derrick crane is key to efficiently placing nearly 6,000 interlocking precast panels that form the road decks of these spans.


Workers assemble rigging for the I Lift NY super crane.


Photos courtesy New York State Thruway Authority. As the first anniversary of work approached, a


few elements were beginning to take shape above the waterline, and the arrival of the enormous I Lift NY super crane evidenced the massive components to be handled on the site in the following years. Officially registered as the Left Coast Lifter, the unit was built for work on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. It was transited 6,000 miles via the Panama Canal to reach the site. Te massive capacity of the super crane enabled Tappan


Zee Constructors (TZC), the design-build consortium responsible for the project, to manufacture a great deal of the structure in large component pieces offsite. Te benefits of this approach include quality, speed, and savings. Components manufactured in more controlled conditions can be more easily built to rigorous quality standards—


and installing fewer, larger components cuts time from the job. And of course, time is money. Te crane’s capability was cited as one factor that contributed to shaving a billion dollars off of earlier estimates for the project. Major components produced offsite and delivered for placement on the structures include precast pier caps, steel girder assemblies, main span and approach road deck panels, and the crossbeams for the main span towers. Te Fort Miller Company, Inc., which produced nearly 1,000 concrete main span deck panels that underpin the driving surface on the cable-stayed main section of the bridge, gives a sense of the benefits of offsite production. Tese precast panels are poured at the company’s Easton, NY, location—where environmental conditions can be controlled for better, more consistent curing in a much safer working environment. Te panels are specified to a remarkable strength of 9,700 pounds per square inch after 14 days, so quality control is a critical consideration. Josh French, a project manager with the firm, stated


in an April 2015 Progress Update: “Our company thrives on the challenges, demanding specifications and high standards set forth by Tappan Zee Constructors and the Truway,” adding that the “… project allows our teams to demonstrate our proven capabilities as we aim to exceed their expectations.”


WIRE ROPE EXCHANGE NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2017 25


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