For the past four years, EnTech has been at work over the Harlem River, overseeing critical upgrades to the Madison Avenue Bridge between Upper Manhattan and the Bronx. The firm, in joint venture, is leading resident engineering inspection (REI) and environmental services for a New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) project to upgrade mechanical, electrical, and structural components of the movable bridge. The goal of the project is to replace nonfunctioning or obsolete parts and bring the bridge up to regulatory standards.

One of the team’s most significant tasks is supervising and managing inspections during the fabrication, handling, and delivery of various machinery components for the bridge, with these off-site inspections taking place in foundries, forging, and machine shops. Inspection tasks include off-site erection and testing of the movable span and on-site final erection, testing, and acceptance.

“The project involved removing existing 100-year-old machinery and replacing it with machinery fabricated in plants that were affected by COVID-19,” says Kambiz Riazi, the project’s Resident Engineer. “Our inspection teams continued to work through these issues, and REI and CSS worked to reduce and resolve issues as fast as possible.”

Another challenge has been limiting disturbances to vehicular and marine traffic, and the team implemented a maintenance and protection of traffic (MPT) plan that includes nightly lane closures and marine traffic restrictions. The firm is coordinating construction with the NYCDOT, New York City Transit (NYCT), and the U.S. Coast Guard to keep traffic patterns as normal as possible.

The project is set to wrap up soon, providing an opportunity for the EnTech team to reflect on the project’s most rewarding aspects. “The cooperation of all involved resulted in successful machinery installations, which in turn resulted in a successful opening,” Riazi said. “Seeing it work so well during the first opening after new installations was an exciting and rewarding experience.”