Water Tunnel Work Begins

Work has begun on the Manhattan leg of City Water Tunnel No. 3. The Manhattan section will run from 30th Street on the West Side to the Holland Tunnel. A second section will loop north from that point up the West Side to Lincoln Center. Both sections will be active by 2011.

The tunnel, started in 1970, is being constructed in four stages. Completion is not expected until 2020. Stage one, completed in 1998, runs 13 miles from the Hillview Reservoir in Westchester County, through the Bronx, northern Manhattan and Queens. It cost approximately $1 billion and provides drinking water to parts of these areas. Eventually, the Manhattan leg will be connected into the stage one portion of the tunnel.

Parsons Brinckerhoff, SYSTRA to Conduct Study

Transit Link Consultants, a joint venture between Parsons Brinckerhoff and SYSTRA Consulting, was awarded a contract to prepare a draft environmental impact statement for the Access to the Region's Core study.

The study, commissioned by New Jersey Transit and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, will involve engineering, environmental, economic and financial studies as well as rail operations analysis for building a new commuter rail tunnel to link the new Secaucus Junction in New Jersey to Penn Station in Manhattan.

Building on a major investment study previously prepared by Parsons Brinckerhoff, the intent of the project is to investigate near-term (by 2010) and long-term solutions for improved transit connections between New Jersey and Manhattan. Long-term alternatives being studied include a new Hudson River commuter rail tunnel directly adjacent to the existing Amtrak tunnels.

The study, which will include a public outreach/scooping process, will be completed in June 2005.

Southeast Dam Projects Started

Work on a $25 million rehabilitation project affecting the dams at the Bog Brook and East Branch Reservoirs in Southeast in Putnam County has begun, said New York City Department of Environmental Protection commissioner Christopher Ward.

The work includes upgrades of the dams' hydraulic functions, aesthetic improvements to the dams and the surrounding woodlands and better access for boaters through a new boat ramp in the East Branch Reservoir. The project will also remove graffiti from the spillway, clean and resurface the face of the dam, remove overgrown brush from the area and restore the fountain at the base of the dam to its original splendor.

West Orange Traffic Project Awarded

Schoor DePalma has been awarded a contract for traffic signal and roadway improvements in West Orange Township, N.J.

The project involves designing new roadway improvements and traffic signals that will help to improve traffic flow through two intersections in West Orange Township, the intersection of Eagle Rock Avenue and Laurel Avenue and the intersection of Eagle Rock Avenue and Oval Road.

Tasks involved in the job include analysis of current traffic volume and accident data at intersections, field and topographic surveying to assist in design of new roadway improvements, design of new traffic signals, determination of appropriate traffic signal timing to accommodate current and future traffic flow projections, design of traffic control plans and drainage plans, and community involvement at public hearings.

TEA-21 Reauthorization Urged

The construction industry is urging Congress to adopt a six-year, $375 billion reauthorization of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, or TEA-21.

Congress was unable to complete action on a highway and transit reauthorization bill before it expired Sept. 30. To keep pressure on Congress, members of the Transportation Construction Coalition have launched a new national grassroots activity to remind lawmakers that failure to enact a reauthorization bill jeopardizes hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Construction industry workers sent postcards that have the orange MEN/WOMEN Working road signs with the word "NOT" stamped across them to the White House and Congress. The TCC set a goal of sending one million of the postcards, which were also inserted in the Nov. 6 issue of The Hill.