Plans Advance on Hudson River Tunnel

NJ Transit picks an engineering team for a project to replace a swing bridge over the Hackensack River that would tie into the agency's $7.2 billion Hudson River tunnel program. Also, a Manhattan seminary adds a geothermal well system.

Small Contract Helps Launch Big Tunnel Project

A $3.3 million contract to conduct environmental and engineering studies on the best ways to increase rail capacity at a two-track bridge near Secaucus, N.J., seems simple on its face.

But New Jersey Transit has designated the job as a critical early link to the larger plan for its Trans-Hudson Express Tunnel project, a $7.2 billion pair of commuter rail tubes that will cross under the Hudson River and lead to a new 34th Street station in Manhattan.

The project will study current capacity and potential improvements for the Amtrak Portal Bridge, which crosses the Hackensack River in the Meadowlands district.

According to New Jersey Transit, the 96-year-old swing bridge has been a chokepoint on the Amtrak Northeast Corridor, most recently causing the cancellation in July of 22 peak-hour trains because of a malfunction in its track-locking mechanism.

The transit agency awarded the project to New York-based AKRF, which will conduct the draft environmental impact statement required under federal law.

The firm will assess environmental impacts, estimate capital and operating costs, conduct public hearings, and create concept designs for several options to expand track capacity. Those options may include the possibility of replacing the bridge with a new span in order to support twice the number of trains or elevating the span to reduce the number of openings for river traffic. AKRF will complete the DEIS by late 2007.

The agency has linked the project to its planned tunnel because the bridge's tracks will handle many trains going into and out of the new tubes, which are designed to offer a one-trip commute to a large segment of New Jersey Transit riders who currently have to switch trains while commuting to and from Manhattan.

The transit agency already awarded an $82.5 million engineering contract on the tunnel to a joint venture of Parsons Brinckerhoff, STV, and DMJM Harris-AECOM, all New York firms working together out of a Newark, N.J. office. The tunnel's DEIS is slated for review later this year, and the agency plans to hire a construction management and project control team by year's end as well.

The agency's goal is to complete the bridge rehabilitation in time for the opening of the tunnel in 2016. The agency is also planning to add a new $150 million commuter rail spur and station nearby in the Meadowlands sports complex, which is slated to add a new football stadium and retail complex in the coming years.

Geothermal System at Seminary

Construction is starting on the installation of a new geothermal system at the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan.

As part of a $9 million restoration of the seminary's campus, the new system will have 22 standing column wells, the largest single geothermal well field in New York City. The system will provide heating and cooling for 260,000 sq. ft. of space, reducing the seminary's carbon dioxide emissions by an estimated 1,400 tons annually.

Designed by New York's Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners, the wells will require drilling beneath the sidewalks around the campus, running steel casings from the surface to Manhattan bedrock, and drilling 22 8-in.-diameter bore holes to a depth of 1,500 ft. At that depth, the constant temperature of the water at 55 degrees Fahrenheit will cool the buildings above ground if they are too hot, or heat the buildings when it is cold.

Modernization Plans for LaGuardia

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is planning a modernization program at LaGuardia Airport to expand the type of aircraft the facility can handle and possibly add security improvements.

The agency selected a joint venture of San Francisco-based URS Corp. and New York's William Nicholas Bodouva + Associates to assist with the planning through a five-year, $20-million-maximum on-call contract.

The possible areas of focus for the modernization planning initially may include updating of redevelopment plans, new cost estimates and schedules, and related business and financing plans.

The focus of the program is the airport's Central Terminal Building, whose concourse layout only allows access to certain aircraft models and offers the airlines limited flexibility for space programming.

The Port Authority will also use the modernization planning effort to reassess security needs at its passenger and baggage check points.

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