Park Avenue Viaduct Replacement in New York CIty (NYC)

(Satellite, the viaduct is being replaced between here (115th Street) and 132 Street.)

Facebook Reel

Same Reel

Same Reel

MTA
"The MTA is repairing or replacing portions of the Park Avenue Viaduct between East 115 and East 132 Streets....The Park Avenue Viaduct is the elevated steel structure that carries four Metro-North Railroad tracks along Park Avenue between E 110 St and the Harlem River Lift Bridge."

Before:

Street View, Aug 2024

After:

MTA, this webpage has some photos of the existing viaduct and some videos of the replacement activity

A renovation was completed in 1999.

bechtel
"At the time of the rehabilitation, it carried nearly all Metro-North trains into and out of Grand Central Terminal — carrying approximately 600 trains and 160,000 passengers daily.... Modernizing the steel structure involved replacing the deck, upgrading support structures, and improving track geometry — all while keeping trains and commuters moving. With three of the four tracks remaining active during rush hour, space for construction was extremely limited. At times, it required the team to carefully coordinate the movement of 500 tons of steel in an area no larger than 4,000 square feet. Despite these constraints, Bechtel completed the six-year effort on schedule."

I noticed the Mi-Jack brand on the wheeled gantry cranes in the reel screen views at the top of these notes. I recognize that name as the wheeled gantries that are used to move containers in some railroad intermodal yards.

mi-jack, there are a couple of videos on this webpage.
" Working with the MTA, Halmar International used prefabricated construction and two custom 200-ton Mi-Jack RTG cranes to efficiently replace aging viaduct sections in active rail territory – resulting in Phase I finishing $93 million under budget and 21 months ahead of schedule....Spanning 1.25 miles and serving the Hudson, Harlem, and New Haven lines, the structure is a critical link for daily commuter travel – leaving no margin for extended outages or construction delays during replacement work. During Phase I, crews replaced 8,240 feet of track across 128 bridge installations, which required lifting and positioning 190,000-lb bridge sections. Mi-Jack’s custom 200-ton gantry cranes enabled crews to efficiently lift out old steel and concrete deck segments and install prefabricated replacements within tightly controlled work windows, minimizing disruption of commuter services....Measuring approximately 30’L x 50’H x 98’W, the machines required a complex erection procedure due to the need to straddle one of the busiest rail corridors in the Northeast to perform bridge replacement."

Why didn't they replace the viaduct between 123rd and 127th Streets? That would have saved them the expense of moving the gantry cranes.

mi-jack
"Following the successful completion of Phase I, which replaced the viaduct from East 115th Street to East 123rd Street, Phase II is now underway. This next phase will focus on replacing the viaduct from East 127th Street to mid-block between East 131st and East 132nd Streets, with completion expected in 2027. To begin Phase II, the two Mi-Jack MJ200HD cranes had to be disassembled and relocated to East 128th Street – a complex operation requiring smaller cranes to lift and move the components. The top beams alone measure 94 feet in length and weigh approximately 83,000 pounds."

ConstructionDive
"The $590 million first phase, of which $500.9 million stemmed from federal funds, replaced the viaduct’s full substructure and superstructure between East 115th and East 123rd streets."
[So, the estimate must have been $683 if there was a $93m savings.]

Environmental impact studies continue to be a growth industry.

stvinc