Work in Progress – Penn Station Access / Bronx River Bridge

A big milestone was reached at our Penn Station Access project a couple of weeks ago. We installed a new bridge span over the Bronx River. The extremely narrow site required some innovative ways to install the new span, sandwiched between a private parking lot and an existing Amtrak bridge. A few feet away from the existing bridge, the team successfully pulled across the approximately 180 ft long 370 ton 2 span bridge over the Bronx River, using Hilman rollers ranging from 75 ton to 200 ton capacity, located on the West approach, both abutments, and the center pier, and was pulled across with a heavy duty air winch with a ¾ inch diameter 4 part pulley steel cable system. The bridge was pre-assembled on the West side of the Bronx River in the weeks leading up to the launch. The 4 main steel girders alone weighed 70,000 and 105,000 pounds each and were brought in with steerable dollies to maneuver the narrow right-of-way leading to the Bronx River, where they were unloaded with 80-ton forklifts. The design incorporated the existing brownstone abutments only requiring the top few feet to be removed and replaced with new precast bridge seats. The existing center pier was also able to be used only requiring a 3.5′ tall cast-in-place section to be added to the top.

This major milestone is a step closer getting the exciting new MNR service to Penn Station!

Images starting from top left to bottom + video ©Halmar International / Image under video ©MTA / Image gallery 1, 2, 3, 5 & 6 ©MTA / Image 4 ©Halmar International