Page 18 • December 5, 2012 • www.constructionequipmentguide.com • CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT GUIDE
Tishman Construction Builds Tatzu Nishi Art Installation Tishman Construction Corporation, an AECOM company, has completed the construction of Japanese artist Tatzu Nishi’s Discovering Columbus — a large-scale, temporary art installation that reimagines the iconic Christopher Columbus statue at the center of Manhattan’s Columbus Circle. The construction company was engaged by the Public Art Fund, the New York nonprofit organization that is presenting the project, to procure and manage the erection of a faux living room six stories above the street and supported by 64 ft. of scaffolding. A stairwell gives visitors access to the room where they come face-to-face with the sculpture, set against dramatic views of Central Park and Midtown. The 13-ft.-tall Columbus is surrounded by lamps, a couch, coffee table, television and custom wallpaper covered with images of American pop culture. The exhibition opened to the public in September and will be on view until midNovember. In building Discovering Columbus, Tishman’s work included the construction of the scaffolding and a hoist elevator for public use, the installation and dismantling of the living room and associated construction activities. Tishman collaborated with AECOM engineers to provide initial site
studies. said Susan Freedman, president of “The Public Art Fund is an expert the Public Art Fund. “This work is at art installations and exhibits, and so different from anything we’ve we’re experts at vertical construccreated previously. We were espetion,” said Pam Friedlander, Tishman cially mindful that the structure is senior vice president. “Projects like built around a historical monument, ‘The Waterfalls’ and ‘Discovering we were on a rather tight construcColumbus’ are a combination of the tion timeline, and we’re working in two, and we’ve become the fund’s the middle of one of New York’s go-to partner for this sort of thing. busiest intersections. But the work These projects present really unique was completed just as the artist logistical challenges, and finding the envisioned, and the public response right solutions is something we're has been extraordinary.” very good at.” Tishman Construction previously The project’s scope presented sevserved as construction manager of eral challenges that needed to be the Public Art Fund’s New York addressed quickly to maintain the City Waterfalls and Sol LeWitt: aggressive six-week schedule, Structures, 1965-2006. Waterfalls including adhering to the city’s prowas an iconic temporary art exhibicurement process and working with tion by artist Olafur Eliasson that a number of city agencies to deter- In building Discovering Columbus, Tishman’s work consisted of four man-made watermine and attain the permits required included the construction of the scaffolding and a falls built on prominent New York for this one-of-a-kind project. hoist elevator for public use, the installation and Harbor locations overlooking Another complexity Tishman faced dismantling of the living room and associated con- Lower Manhattan. Sol LeWitt: was operating a working construc- struction activities. Structures was the first outdoor tion site on a very small footprint — career survey of Sol LeWitt’s three“Having worked with Tishman on a num- dimensional works. the site is in a small circle in the center of a city surrounded by traffic. The experienced ber of our large-scale projects in the past, we For more information, visit team was able to manage this safely and suc- were excited to partner with them on the www.aecom.com or www.publicartfund.org. cessfully and delivered the project on time. construction of Discovering Columbus,”
Warnings Stave Off Gridlock on George Washington Bridge By Shawn Boburg THE RECORD OF WOODLAND PARK
WOODLAND PARK, N.J. (AP) It was supposed to be a traffic nightmare. It turned out to be a dream. Predictions of 5-mi. backups and unprecedented delays on the New Jersey side of the George Washington Bridge appear to have scared thousands of daily commuters away from the span. Except for the recent congestion caused by superstorm Sandy’s assault on the region’s transit system, motorists have seen faster-than-normal rush-hour commutes ever since the July start of a major construction project in New York City, according to transportation officials, experts and traffic data. “We see this time and time again,” said Jim Bak, director of community relations at INRIX, a company that collects data on traffic along the Interstate 95 corridor and other highways throughout the country. He told The Record of Woodland Park that “there is a very strong element of psychology behind traffic patterns.” In the last few years, he said, similar worstcase warnings in Los Angeles, Seattle and London have had the same effect — actually reducing traffic to below-normal levels on roads that were expected to be clogged. It’s a public relations strategy that state transportation officials in New York, who aired the predictions in media outlets throughout the region before the July 15 start of the project, acknowl-
edge opens them to “cry wolf” criticism. But they say there was no effort to mislead the public and that the backups might have matched predictions if people hadn’t changed their routines. “It kept the scenario from becoming a worst-case scenario,” said Adam Levine, a spokesman of the New York Department of Transportation. Pleased with the effect, New York State transportation officials are now warning that traffic delays are going to hit New Jerseybound vehicles starting in December, as a new phase begins on the construction project that caused all the worry, the rehabilitation of the Alexander Hamilton Bridge. The span connects Manhattan with the Bronx and is less than a mile from the George Washington Bridge. At 8 a.m. on a typical weekday, it takes 11 to 13 minutes on average for a vehicle to travel eastbound from the intersection of Routes 80 and 95 in Hackensack to the deck of the George Washington Bridge, according to INRIX. But in the months from the start of the Alexander Hamilton Bridge project until Sandy struck, that drive took an average of between four and six minutes. Congestion at the bridge, of course, has increased in the weeks since Sandy because commuters had fewer transit options and the Holland Tunnel was out of commission much of the time. But the numbers indicate that motorists avoided the world’s busiest span for
a prolonged period. There were nearly 6,400 fewer daily Manhattan-bound trips on average in the 2-1/2 months after the July 15 start of construction, compared with the period in 2011, according to officials at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the agency that operates the GWB. They also said the warnings appeared to be the cause. The Lincoln and Holland tunnels, the Port Authority’s other Hudson River crossings, meanwhile, saw no appreciable increase in traffic over that time, said Steve Coleman, a spokesman at agency. The work on the Alexander Hamilton resulted in a lane closing that engineers projected could create a choke point, backing up traffic on the west side of the George Washington Bridge to Route 80 in Hackensack and into the Meadowlands on the New Jersey Turnpike. The current phase of the project is expected to end in early December, five weeks earlier than anticipated, officials said. The predictions from New York State transportation officials this summer prompted calls for street closings and extra police patrols in Bergen County towns bordering Route 95. Transportation agencies in both New York and New Jersey asked eastbound commuters to find other ways across the river. They used Web sites, mobile applications, electronic billboards and statements to the media. “In terms of getting the word out, that was
unprecedented,” said Levine. It was a toned-down version of what was dubbed Carmaggedon on the West Coast — a road project in Los Angeles that caused the closing of a 10-mi. stretch of a busy Interstate in September and last year. Officials predicted the worst. But motorists ended up staying home or taking other modes of transportation, and the potentially affected roads were relatively empty. In Phase 5 of the Alexander Hamilton Bridge project, crews will set up a working area in the middle of the westbound side of the bridge, fed by the chronically clogged Cross Bronx Expressway. It will result in the closing of one of the four westbound lanes and is expected to last through April. “The Cross Bronx Expressway into the George Washington Bridge is always slow,” Levine said. “We do expect it’s going to be a little more arduous.” This time, he did not provide estimates for how far the backups might extend. Bak, of INRIX, said motorists often write off a particular route if they hear about the potential for congestion. But with the increasing number of free, real-time traffic applications, both on phones and on the Internet, he said, motorists can make last-minute decisions based on how the traffic patterns are playing out that day. “It’s that saying, ‘Know before you go,’” he said. “That could be five minutes before you walk out the door.”