Nov 19th, 2017 : Tappan Zee Bridge
 

Anyone driving from southern New England to Philly and points south has basically two choices. One is going through NYC and
the George Washington Bridge. The other was the Tappan Zee Bridge 20 miles north.
Opened in 1955 it was the longest bridge in NY state at 16,013 feet (4.881 miles), but always a bottleneck.
So they decided to build a new bridge next to it for $4 Billion, and tear the Tappan Zee down.

http://cellar.org/2017/concrete0.jpg

Now a bridge 7 lanes wide and near 5 miles long results in a lot of reinforced concrete.
But both the concrete and rebar are being recycled.

http://cellar.org/2017/concrete1.jpg

Bring on the concrete munchers, nom nom nom.

http://cellar.org/2017/concrete2.jpg

That crane in the background is rated at 600 tons.

http://cellar.org/2017/concrete3.jpg

No link, my buddy's son sold the the CAT munchers to the contractor, and took the pictures.

Fun toys.

Original 1955 Tappan Zee bridge was a victim of the Korean War. It was minimized since sufficient money was no longer available due to that war. It had long carried a load well beyond what it was originally designed to support.

This is very unusual in the US today. We don't build major construction projects any more. Even the George Washington Bridge, built in 1930, is that old. A nonsensical worry about costs dominates rather than productivity (ie a rail tunnel from NJ to NYC's Penn Station that is desperately needed). But NY State had no choice. It had to replace the Tappan Zee. It is a major Interstate highway.

No viable alternative exists across this Hudson river. A small Bear Mountain bridge (built 1924) is 22 miles north. Or an Interstate Highway bridge is 38 miles north. George Washington Bridge is 22 miles south. And takes much longer due to overburdened taffic jams (and a NJ Governor). Tapan Zee must carry heavy interstate traffic on InterState 287 - a major connection between New England and the rest of the continental US. So cost cutting (destroy America) politicians (ie NJ's Governor Christie is a classic example) could not block this construction.

And it costs a lot because, originally, it was stupidly placed at a spot where the river crossing is 3 miles wide, with a mucky floor... instead of just a bit south, where the river is one mile wide with a solid rock floor.

The bridge was only built where it was because it had to be 25 miles away from the Statue of Liberty...

...otherwise, the toll money from it would go to the Port Authority instead of to NY state.

source: NPR story

Ah, the run I love to hate. Just TRY to pilot a loaded semi across THAT bridge (toll is $99 last time I checked). I budget three extra hours to allow for delays there.

Or, I just take I-87 north to I-84, if possible, and save the toll and headache and the double-shot of scotch that night to calm my nerves.

Thanks
 

I don't like on that side of the USA, so I'd know nothing about the whole thing. Interesting pictures, and back story. Thank you.

I wonder how you recycle concrete though. If you grind it into a fine enough powder, can you mix it with water and pour it again? I thought concrete curing was an exothermic reaction.

No, it's ground up to the size of gravel and sold for the same uses. As cheap or cheaper than gravel, slightly higher price with a guaranty of no metal.

I only use virgin gravel.

Extra virgin if they got it.

Used gravel. Pfft.

You've got a lot of nerve being picky about the virginity of anything you use. http://cellar.org/2012/bwekk.gif

Touche.

Graveldigr?