Tappan Zee Constructors, the Fluor-led joint venture team working on the $3.9-billion Tappan Zee Bridge replacement project, will face fines of $1,500 per lane per minute if it fails to keep a minimum of four lanes open during rush hour throughout construction, according to an agreement between the team and the New York State Thruway Authority. The nine-part agreement also calls for the team to be fined $120,000 per day for each day it is late in completing the project by April 3, 2018, according to an April 10 article in The Journal News, which obtained the first two parts

Birdsall Services Group, Inc., Eatontown, N.J., furloughed 300 employees on April 10 after a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order in favor of the State of New Jersey's efforts to block the embattled engineering firm's bankruptcy filing. Birdsall is also in talks with a potential buyer, according to court filings. Birdsall and seven of its former executives were indicted on corruption charges on March 26, and the firm filed for bankruptcy on March 29. The temporary restraining order, issued by U.S. District Court Judge Michael Shipp, blocks Birdsall from using cash collateral for salaries and other expenses, says a

Sandhogs have decided that no more major blasting is needed under Grand Central Terminal where they are working on the East Side Access (ESA) project, says a Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) spokeman. Since March 2007, joint venture contractors Dragado USA and Judlau Contracting have headed up a team of about 1,000 workers who toiled round the clock five days a week to complete more than 2,400 controlled blasts, MTA says. Photo Courtesy of MTA Tunnels lead into caverns underneath the Grand Central terminal where a concourse for arriving and departing Long Island Rail Road trains is planned.  The $8.76-billion ESA

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is building an 11,400-ft-long wall along the A Line in Broad Channel, Queens to protect the track right-of-way from washouts should another Sandy-like storm hit the area. The A Line suffered signal, switch, and cable damage when the Oct. 29, 2012 storm hit the region. Photo by Kevin Ortiz/Courtesy of MTA Putting Up Obstacles: Crews are drilling steel sheets 33 ft below ground to protect tracks. J-Track LLC, College Point, N.Y., is building the $15-million wall, which will be located on the Jamaica Bay side of Broad Channel and is scheduled to be completed by May.

Buro Happold, New York, has hired Ariella Rosenberg as a strategic planner to work in the firm's strategic management company Happold Consulting. Rosenberg has more than a decade of urban planning experience focusing on sustainability planning, energy management and climate action. She previously served as deputy director of the New York City Mayor's Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, where she was part of the team that developed PlaNYC to combat climate change. Related Links: ENR New York ENR New York Featured People Anthony S. Pecci, based in Dewberry's Bloomfield, N.J., office, has been promoted to senior vice president from

Tristate Photo by Sue Pearsall On the Job: New York construction jobs grew 2.4% last year, but New Jersey and Connecticut employment declined. Rendering Courtesy of NYS Thruway Authority The Long Stretch: The Tappan Zee Bridge replacement project is expected to begin construction later this year. Related Links: ENR New York ENR New York Featured News Industry Employment Up in N.Y., Down in N.J. & Conn.The tristate Region's year-over-year industry employment rates were mixed, according to an Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) jobs report released last month. But the industry overall shows signs of emerging from a six-year slump,

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) issued new safety rules as it resumed work at the Second Avenue Subway's 95th Street station site today, March 21, a day after an SAS contractor trapped below ground in mud up to his chest was rescued. "Everyone in the area will work with harnesses, and all areas without any support under them will be marked off with cones," the agency said in a statement.The mandate follows a grueling four-hour ordeal that began March 19 to free 51-year-old Joseph Barrone, an E.E. Cruz worker who got stuck 75 ft below ground in the quicksand-like mud

More than 100 New York City firefighters, police officers and other officials worked for four hours last night to free a construction worker trapped 75 ft below ground in a muddy trench at the Second Avenue Subway site's 96th Street station. The worker, whose name has not been released, was removed from the scene in stable condition and taken to Weill Cornell Medical Center, says Maria Lamberti, a Fire Dept. of New York (FDNY) spokeswoman. FDNY was called to the scene at 8:32 p.m. on March 19, and the man was rescued at 12:28 a.m. March 20, she says. The

New York State construction employment grew 2.4% to 322,500 during the past year, according to an Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) report issued March 18. However, Connecticut lost 2.5%, or 1,300 construction jobs, and New Jersey lost 0.9%, or 1,200 jobs, from January 2012 to January 2013, says the report, which is based on Dept. of Labor data. Nationwide, 24 states and the District of Columbia added jobs, 25 states shed workers and one, Wisconsin, had no change. Month over month, two-thirds of all states—including N.Y., N.J. and Conn.—added workers from December 2012 to January 2013. The industry shows

New York State has entered the next stage to secure a $1.5-billion federal loan for the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement project, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced March 8. The state, which is seeking a low-interest loan to help finance and lower bridge tolls for the $3.9-billion project, had applied for a $2-billion loan under the U.S. Dept. of Transportation's (DOT) Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) program.   The NYS Thruway Authority awarded the design-build contract last December to Fluor-led consortium Tappan Zee Constructors, which bid $3.142 billion for the project.   In his March 8 announcement, Cuomo said the