Such aggressive plans for STEM and other buildings as well as how schools propose to finance them dominated discussions at ENR New York's "Making the Grade" higher education conference, held Oct. 16 in New York.

"There is a persistent shortage of tech talent," Cathy Dove, vice president of Cornell NYC Tech, told attendees. Like its rivals, Cornell Tech aims to change that. Completion of the first phase of its planned $2-billion Roosevelt Island campus is set for 2017. Funded in part through philanthropy and $100 million from the city, Cornell Tech plans to sign a lease with the city in December, Dove says.

While both private and public institutions are expanding, funding remains a major dividing line between the two sectors. Private schools have the advantage of sizable financial endowments, but public schools—including those under the City University of New York (CUNY) system—are grappling with shrinking state and local support, speakers said.

With half a million full- and part-time students, CUNY is "the elephant in the city in terms of education," says Robert Lemieux, director of CUNY Design, Construction and Management. Tuition is about $4,000 per year, which is not enough to cover costs for its 300 existing structures, he says.

"The only way we can sustain our facilities is through continued government support," Lemieux says, adding that the institution has tried to raise funds through philanthropy "but we don't have people, or at least not that many, writing the big checks" that private universities do.

Funding issues are spurring the public side to become more creative, says Bob Fraser, deputy general manager of the State University Construction Fund. Buffalo University's 540,000-sq-ft medical school project, for example, was made possible by a mix of public and private financing, including a university fundraising campaign; an NYSUNY Challenge Grant; and land donation from the First Niagara Financial Group.

New York

Bridge Replaced in 20 Hours Using ABC Methods

It took only 20 hours last month for crews to demolish and replace the eastbound lane of a twin bridge in Southeast, N.Y., under a federally funded accelerated bridge construction (ABC) program that involves the use of precast parts. The new bridge sits beside a new westbound span on Interstate 84 over Dingle Ridge Road that was completed Sept. 21, also in 20 hours.

The $10.2-million I-84 project is only the second using the Transportation Research Board's (TRB) Strategic Highway Research Program's ABC toolkit, says Bala Sivakumar, vice president and director of special bridge projects at HNTB Corp., project designer and developer of the toolkit. The first was the Keg Creek Bridge in Iowa, completed in 2011 (ENR New York 10/7 p. 21).

Working through the rain, crews led by Yonkers Contracting Co. began demolition of the existing structure at 5 p.m. on Oct. 19 and slid the new one into place by 1 a.m. Oct. 20, Sivakumar says. "That seven hours is pretty near record time for this kind of work," he says.

The project includes new abutments, and the roadway was raised about 2 ft to meet the new bridge. After the slide, crews worked till around 12:30 p.m. on Oct. 20 to raise the approaches using large quantities of asphalt applied in layers, Sivakumar says