New York City Related Links: ENR New York ENR New York Featured News Work Starts on Second Hudson Yards TowerA Year after ground was broken on the first tower at Hudson Yards, work on the second tower has begun and plans call for starting the tower's platform over a rail yard in January. By this time next year, the entire Eastern Rail Yards portion of the 26-acre redevelopment on Manhattan's West Side is slated to be under construction, including four towers, a retail podium and a public plaza."Hudson Yards is well on its way to redefining 21st-century development in New

Gilbane Building Co. has hired Jay Prybylski and Jim Murphy as senior project executives in the firm's New York City office. They bring decades of construction experience from field operations to senior management across a wide spectrum of markets. During his career, Prybylski has worked on a wide range of projects, including the CNBC headquarters building, the GM Building Plaza and retail build-outs for Barneys, Brooks Brothers and Hermes of Paris. Murphy has 40 years of construction and technical services experience across residential, medical, commercial, hospitality, gaming, process chemical, life sciences, manufacturing and correctional markets. Related Links: ENR New York

Growing demand for luxury residential towers, particularly in Manhattan, is a key driver behind the 12% decline this year in New York City's list of stalled projects, according to the New York Building Congress (NYBC). Some of the luxury developments that have been shelved since 2009, when the Dept. of Buildings (DOB) began tracking stalled sites, "have come roaring back to life," says NYBC, which analyzed the DOB's stalled projects data from November 2012 to the present. These include the 60-story 56 Leonard Street and the 20-story 5 Franklin Place residential buildings, both in Tribeca.The city has so far this

Some $86 million of Superstorm Sandy recovery funds will be used to improve infrastructure on Amtrak's four East River tunnels that carry more than 300,000 Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) commuters a day to and from Penn Station. The aging single-track tunnels, which Amtrak owns and maintains, have been the source of numerous LIRR delays due to track issues, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement and at a broadcast press conference held at the Mineola LIRR station today, Nov. 18. He says he pushed Amtrak to develop the tunnel improvement program following an LIRR service disruption last August

Two trade groups and the New York City Dept. of Buildings (DOB) are scheduled to give oral arguments on Dec. 17 before a state judge in a case involving the prefabricated building units of Atlantic Yards' B2 tower. A factory at the Brooklyn Navy Yard is making the units for developer Forest City Ratner Cos.' $117-million modular high-rise, the first residential tower at the Atlantic Yards site. But the trade groups—Mechanical Contractors Association of New York (MCANY) and the Plumbing Foundation City of New York (PFCNY)—charge that the prefab work is being done without licensed trades people and sued DOB

New York Rendering Courtesy of Tappan Zee Constructors LLC and HDR Engineering Inc. The Long Stretch: The New NY Bridge (as viewed from Losee Park in Tarrytown, N.Y.) will have eight traffic lanes and include a bike and pedestrian path when completed. Photo Courtesy of the NYC Mayor's Office New Flow: New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the activation of the Manhattan leg of Tunnel No. 3 from inside its valve room under Central Park. Related Links: ENR New York Featured news ENR New York Education Conference Cuomo Kicks Off Start of Work on New TZBCrews began installing the permanent

Naik Consulting Group PC, Edison, N.J., has hired Samir Mody as senior vice president. He will lead the firm's short- and long-range plans and develop overall growth objectives and opportunities through strategic planning, supervision, and client liaison activities.  Mody Related Links: ENR New York ENR New York Featured People Arup, New York, has hired Susan Baer as a principal and global aviation planning leader. She will be responsible for leading efforts in aviation and management consulting for existing and new clients. Previously, Baer worked for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) and was the first person

Construction has officially begun on the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement project, with installation of permanent piles that will make up the foundation of the new bridge. Construction on the long-awaited, twin span, named New NY Bridge, is expected to be completed in 2018 and cost under $4 billion, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office. Rendering by Tappan Zee Constructors LLC and HDR Engineering Inc. Large Spans: The New NY Bridge (as viewed here from Sleepy Hollow, N.Y.) will have eight traffic lanes and include a bike and pedestrian path upon completion. Related Links: Tappan Zee Bridge Advances, With HNTB Named

It took only 20 hours this past weekend 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 80-ft-long and 57-ft-wide bridge with full shoulders sits beside a new westbound span on Interstate 84 over Dingle Ridge Rd. The westbound bridge was completed Sept. 21, also in 20 hours. Photo by Rick Raglow, Courtesy HNTB Corp. Smooth Sliding: Working through the rain, crews began demolition of the existing structure at 5 p.m. Oct. 19 and slid

New York City has activated the final stage of Water Tunnel No. 3's Manhattan leg, turning on a new spigot for the borough for the first time in more than 90 years. The activation of this 8.5-mile stretch of the $6-billion tunnel—one of the largest infrastructure projects in the city's history—"is a historic milestone," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in an Oct. 16 statement announcing the event.Meanwhile, the city's trunk and water main installation work that connects the tunnel to the water distribution system is ongoing.Embedded 400 to 600 feet deep, Tunnel No. 3 will add redundancy to the city's water