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Manhattan Bridge Final Repair Phase Brings Slate of Disruptions

By DNAinfo Staff on October 30, 2009 9:19am  | Updated on November 1, 2009 10:50am

By Gabriela Resto-Montero

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MANHATTAN — Service on the four subway lines and bike path on the Manhattan Bridge will be interrupted periodically for the next four years as the city enters the final phase of restoration for the 100-year-old bridge and replaces all of the suspension cables, officials said.

The B, D, N and Q lines that run on the bridge may see disruptions for eight weekends while the bike path on the north side of the bridge might close for eight months, Brian Gill, Chief Engineer of Manhattan Bridge Reconstruction for the Transportation Department, told the New York Times.

In order to accomodate riders, the pedestrian walkway will be open to bikers during the construction, Gill said.

The project is expected to begin in early 2010 and finish by mid-2013, according to the Times.

The Department of Transportation was preparing to award the $150 million contract to Swedish construction firm Skanska, the Times reported. 

Skanska previously worked on the Williamsburg, Triborough and 59th Street bridges, and will likely repair parts of the Brooklyn Bridge as part of the federal stimulus package, according to the paper.

City officials expected the project to take about 3 1/2 years while crews replace 622 suspenders, rewrap the main cables, replace the bearings on eight trusses and exchange the outer cable lights with energy efficient ones.

The weekend closures contrast the complete halt to services of the 1990s which saw all four lines suspend service for years while the bridge was restored, Gill said. The lower roadway was also closed for a year until it reopened in 2008.