Nearly three weeks after Superstorm Sandy hit the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut coastline with an unprecedented combination of wind and storm surge, public-private teams have largely dealt with power outages and flood emergencies and now are turning their attention to damage in infrastructure and to longer-term restoration, debris cleanup, structural assessments and housing for the thousands who were displaced.
New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo has formed three commissions to study how best to overhaul the state's emergency preparedness and response capabilities and how to improve infrastructure to better withstand monster storms like Hurricane Sandy. The commissions have a Jan. 3, 2013 deadline for making recommendations. Major storms have revealed major weaknesses in the state's transportation, energy, communications and health infrastructures, Cuomo said in a statement today, Nov. 16. The new commissions—dubbed NYS 2100, NYS Respond and NYS Ready—will help prepare and equip the state for future natural disasters, he said."Over the past two years, New York State has
The first damage and economic loss estimates of Hurricane Sandy are pegged at about $33 billion for New York State and $50 billion for the region, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said today, Nov. 8, in an update on the storm. "That is a staggering number, especially with the financial situation that we’ve been in," he said. The state may also incur, at least, an additional $1 billion deficit due to the storm, Cuomo said.The governor also criticized utilities, calling them monopolies, for being unprepared. "Part of it is the system design and part of it is just their performance, and part
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced today, Oct. 29, that the Tappan Zee Bridge (TZB) closed at 4 p.m. and both the Hugh Carey and Holland tunnels closed at 2 p.m. as Hurricane Sandy bore down on the New York City region with storm gusts of up to 80 to 85 miles per hour. NYC bridges are "quickly becoming unsafe," Cuomo said in a statement. However, they will remain open to emergency vehicles and personnel. Other bridges to be closed include the Throgs Neck, Bronx-Whitestone, Verrazano-Narrows, Henry Hudson, Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial, Cross Bay Veterans Memorial, and George Washington. The Staten
Photo by Cathleen McGuigan for Architectural Record The crane atop One57, the rising $1.5 billion residential tower opposite Carnegie Hall, has fallen over in the winds of Hurricane Sandy. Related Links: Partially Collapsed Crane at NYC 'Billionaire's Haven' ENR.com Storm Updates The superstructure of a 1,000-ft-tall tower crane working in Midtown Manhattan left dangling from Hurricane Sandy is at risk of falling down into the streets, says one crane expert watching the event unfold from afar.Terry McGettigan, a tower crane expert in Seattle with 36 years of operating, maintenance and inspection experience, told ENR in a phone interview that the
The Statue of Liberty reopens today, Oct. 28, with a celebration of its 126th birthday and the substantial completion of a one-year, $30-million upgrade to meet current life-safety codes. The majority of the renovation work was in the 145-ft granite pedestal that Lady Liberty stands on, with further work on the rails and protective glass on the stairs leading up to the crown. Photo Courtesy of Mills + Schnoering Architects The project team is putting the finishing touches on a few elements including commissioning of the new HVAC system and on the terreplein stairs leading to the ground level, all
Industry members are eager to hear further details of New York State's recently released plan to add up to 3,200 megawatts of power generation and transmission capacity to the state's grid with up to $5.7 billion to be invested via public-private partnerships. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Dept. of Energy The plan would add up to 3,200 megawatts of power generation and transmission capacity to the state's grid. "Our members build [energy infrastructure] and are also businesses concerned about the cost of energy, which in New York State is above the national average. Our transmission system is very, very antiquated,"
Even as New York City embarks on the public review process for the planned $2-billion-plus Cornell NYC Tech Center on Roosevelt Island, some higher education professionals warn that there will likely be a funding slowdown in coming years for some parts of the sector. While the extent of the slowdown will vary depending on factors including the institution, the culprit will be the same one that has plagued all sectors during the recession—the economy, which is causing some funding sources to pull back. Rendering Courtesy of Columbia University Big Plans: Columbia University is in the first phase of its $6.3-billion
New York City plans to make more than $1 billion available for infrastructure projects that are already in progress or ready to begin, under an accelerated program announced today, Oct. 17. The move, part of the city's updated four-year Capital Commitment Plan, will create about 8,000 mostly construction-related jobs during the next two fiscal years, said Mayor Michael Bloomberg in announcing the effort at a press conference with City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and City Comptroller John Liu. To do this, the city will borrow the $1 billion at low interest rates at a time when construction costs are also
New York City began the seven-month uniform land use review procedure (ULURP) today, Oct. 15, for the 12-acre Cornell NYC Tech Center planned for Roosevelt Island. The action initiates the public review phase of Cornell University and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology's updated master plan of their 30-year, $2-billion-plus planned applied sciences project. Cornell has also released new renderings of the 12-acre tech campus that, when completed in 2037, will include up to 2.1 million sq ft of development. First-phase plans call for breaking ground in 2014 on the first academic building, designed by Thom Mayne and Morphosis Architects. This will
