Exchange Place Reopens

Another milestone in the restoration of PATH service between New Jersey and Manhattan was achieved when the Exchange Place PATH station in Jersey City was reopened.

It had been closed since September 11th when the collapse of the Twin Towers destroyed the PATH station under the World Trade Center and broken water and sewer mains flooded the PATH tunnels under the Hudson all the way back to Exchange Place.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s $160 million restoration project included the construction of new crossover tunnels, along with new track work, to create a terminal station. In addition, the station’s platforms were extended to accommodate up to 10-car trains.

Trains once again run from Newark to Exchange Place, where commuters can take ferries, which leave every six minutes during rush hour, to Manhattan. The temporary PATH station on the World Trade Center site is scheduled to open in November and restoration of PATH service between Jersey City and lower Manhattan will resume at that time.

The work at Exchange Place, as well as in the tunnels and the reconstruction of the PATH station on the New York side, was done by a tri-venture consisting of Yonkers Construction Co. Inc., Tully Construction Co. Inc. and A.J. Pegno Construction Co. with Yonkers functioning as the managing partner.

Power Plant in Astoria

Slattery Skanska/Gottlieb Skanska, a joint venture, has begun construction on a $245 million, 500-MW, combined-cycle power plant in Astoria, N.Y.

The natural gas fired plant will be located on a vacant 4-acre lot adjacent to the existing Charles M. Poletti Generating Station.

The project team is responsible for the overall construction of the plant, including the erection of a 97,000-sq.-ft., two-story building to house the plant equipment. Additional work includes the installation, testing and commissioning of all plant equipment, including two dual-fuel frame 7FA combustion turbine generators and one D11 steam turbine generator as well as two heat recovery steam generators. Two 160-ft.-tall stacks will be erected as well.

Also included in the contract will be the installation of a 1 million-gal. water tank; a 32-cell, air-cooled condenser; three step-up transformers; switchgear, 1.4 million lin. ft. of cable; 215,000 lin. ft. of conduit; and 26,000 lin. ft. of cable tray. Connecting the power equipment will be 110,000 lin. ft. of process piping.

The project is expected to be completed by September 2004.

East River Repowering

Slattery Skanska/Gottlieb Skanska has also been awarded a $200 million contract by Consolidated Edison to repower the 43,000-sq.-ft. East River Generating Station on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

To repower the 360-MW power plant, the development team will install two General Electric Frame 7A gas turbines, two Vogt-NEM Inc. heat recovery steam generators and three Atlas Copco gas compressors. One hundred thousand lin. ft. of process pipe will be installed to connect the new machinery.

Construction of a new water treatment plant on the site is also a part of the contract. The new treatment plant will consist of a 9,000 GMP reverse osmosis system that will produce pure water for steam generation. Electrical work includes the installation of 77,000 lin. ft. of conduit, 15,000 lin. ft. of cable tray, 665,000 lin. ft. of power and control cable and 30,000 electrical terminations.

The project is scheduled for completion in May 2004.

Goethals Bridge Make-Over

The Board of Commissioners of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has approved a plan to rehabilitate the 75-year-old Goethals Bridge which links New Jersey and Staten Island.

The $63 million project will take three years and will include the removal of the asphalt riding surface, rehabilitation of the bridge deck where necessary, replacement of deck joints and storm drains, rehabilitation of a portion of the structural steel, installation of a new a new asphalt riding surface, and replacement of the sidewalks.

Preliminary work will begin this fall and will begin in earnest in April 2004 in the westbound direction and continue in those lanes until June 2005. Eastbound work will follow from June 2005 to December 2006.

Gold Coast Development Continues

The City of Jersey City has retained Schoor DePalma to oversee the construction of Greene Street between Christopher Boulevard and Washington Street on the Jersey City riverfront.

The $15 million project is a product of the public-private partnership between Jersey City and Mack-Cali Realty Corp., which will develop a 1-million-sq.-ft. office building that will front Greene Street. The project will result in improved vehicular circulation through the area and allow for the egress and ingress of traffic to properties with frontage on Greene Street.

Gateway Takes Over

Gateway Demolition has taken over the problem-ridden demolition of the New York Department of Sanitation’s 57th Street Incinerator and Garage, a four-building complex that stretches along the West Side Highway between 55th and 57th streets.

The contract, originally valued at approximately $4 million was awarded to another contractor in 1999, but after months of problems, including the collapse of scaffolding onto West 57th Street in June 2002, the city stopped work on the site last November.

The previous contractor’s bonding company brought Gateway in to complete the work, which still includes the demolitions of the 56th Street Overpass. Demolition work is expected to be completed by the end of September.