Monday, November 10, 2014

Van Wyck work completed ahead of schedule

From the Daily News:

Part of the state’s $265 million plan to untangle the Kew Gardens Interchange in Queens has been completed 18 months ahead of schedule, officials said.

A new northbound Van Wyck Expressway viaduct, designed to last for 75 years and improve traffic flow on the clogged roadway, opened last week.

The 800-foot-long elevated structure, part of two separate projects to lessen congestion, cost $35 million to complete.

Other phases of the Interchange project are expected to be completed in 2016 and 2017.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

The GCP is still a disaster at that interchange! No change in traffic back ups whatsoever !

Anonymous said...

Does the contractor get bonus pay from City for finishing ahead of schedule?

Anonymous said...

How do they have so little of an idea of how long these projects take that it was possible to finish 18 months early?

Anonymous said...

@Anonymous #1: There will always be traffic backups here. Traffic engineering wise - you have the interchange between too many highways - Van Wyck, GCP, Jackie Robinson and not too far from LIE. Think about all those drivers who belatedly realize they are supposed to take XYZ expressway making a last minute correction. Now multiply that by all the drivers who'd want to get onto those highways and you are guaranteed traffic and congestion.

They could improve traffic flow by tearing down the Van Wyck north of the interchange and turning the GCP west of the interchange into I678 (with widening and increasing bridge heights etc). This would turn a 5 way interchange into a 4-way, which would greatly improve traffic flow and reduce congestion.

Anonymous said...

2 lanes from the GCP flow into two lanes of the van wyck and combine to make only three lanes. the drivers in the right lane of the GCP and the left lane of the van wyck have to slow down not to crash. and then there is a stop sign to get onto the JR, which causes a backup a lot of times

mkeit said...

The contract is not finished-just this small part. The other contract is a year behind schedule-where is the new subway entrance, the pedestrian bridge, the rebuilt Queens Blvd bridge?

Anonymous said...

Could they just get the routine maintenance done? How about repainting worn pavement markings. How about fixing the lighting? Almost every overpass you drive under on the GCP is unlit.this causes zero vision.