Discussion

Discuss about the Infrastructure Management for Transport Federation Highway Administrative.

Kosciuszko Bridge has been completed in the year of 1939 and carries around 1.1-mile segment which connects Green point in Brooklyn to Maspeth in Queens. U.S Department of Transport Federation Highway Administrative (FHWA) and NYDSDOT is planning to replace the current bridge in two phases (Cohen, 2017). The construction of the first phase of the bridge is expected to begin soon. After that two parallel bridges are expected to be built on the east side of the existing bridge. The bridges will be designed in such a way that it can easily carry six lanes of traffic. After the competition of the bridge, new connecting roadways are needed to build which would be connecting Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE) into new bridges. Then the current bridges will be demolished (Saska et al., 2016). Later on, in phase II a new bridge will be constructed which would be built in this place. After the competition of the second phase, three new bridge is required which is used for carrying five lanes of traffic in eastbound and four lanes of traffic in westbound.

In the coming pages of the report, an idea has been provided regarding the location and background of the Kosciuszko Bridge project. After the various alternatives with respect to the Kosciuszko Bridge project has been discussed in brief. Planning and appraisal of Kosciuszko Bridge have been discussed. An environment impact assessment has been done on Kosciuszko Bridge. At the end of the report, public scoping and procurement have been done with respect to the given project.

The project of Kosciuszko Bridge will be dealing with a possible solution with its rehabilitation or replacement (Sankaran et al., 2018). The project mainly focuses on a 1.1-mile segment of BQE expressway. The north side of the bridge is connected to LIE which is known as Grand Central Parkway (GCP). The south of the bridge is connected to Williamsburg, Manhattan and lastly Brooklyn bridges along with the tunnel (Moran & Odeh, 2016). This particular project will check three major issues like traffic congestion, traffic safety, and structural condition.

Traffic congestion:  In the year of 1930, Kosciuszko Bridge was built, so it cannot safely carry the present volume of traffic. The short distance near the ramps does not meet with the current standard of the highway. The delay in traffic encourages various drivers to look for an alternative route.

Different Alternatives

Traffic safety: The design flow mainly focuses on the problem which can easily affect the traffic flow. It mainly focuses on traffic safety conditions on the bridge which ultimately affect the safety condition at the bridge and adjacent highways (Surowiecki, Machelski & Saska, 2016). These problems ultimately resulted in higher accident rates which are in New York.

Structural Condition: With the passage of time the structural changes at the bridge is deteriorating day by day. Some of the recent inspection has focused on the fact that despite the aggressive effort by NYSDOT the deficiencies in the bridge are increasing day by day.

 

Fig 1: Kosciuszko Bridge (New York City)

(Source: Landers, 2015, pp-68)

There is an ongoing construction for replacing the Kosciuszko Bridge which comes up with the nine-lane bridge. It mainly comprises of two eastbound spans, one westbound span, a path for bike and lastly a walkway (Surowiecki, Machelski & Saska, 2016). Two new cable-stayed suspension bridge will easily replace the existing span of steel truss. 104 meters long cable strayed bridge design have made it first of its types in the existing model. NYSDT (New York State Department of Transport) is planning to build a six-lane highway which is next to the present bridge. It is mainly used for connecting Brooklyn Queens Expressway is to build a new kind of bridge before the previous bridge is torn out (Duchaczek & Skorupka, 2017). On 23 May 2014, the first phase of the project that its design phase was given to a various organization like Skanska, Kiewit and ECCO III. This particular project is considered to be a largest single contract which was awarded by NYSDT. The first phase of the bridge will be erected to the south side of the existing bridge and is expected to be opened up in late 2016. After the completion of the first phase of the building, all the BEQ traffic will be shifted into it and followed by demolishing of the old bridge (Haimerl, 2015). The second phase of the building is expected to be completed by 2019. Some extra lanes are required because Kosciuszko Bridge is considered to be the bottleneck of traffic.

Draft Environment Impact Statement (DEIS) is all about to have a proper review of the various alternatives which is needed for meeting Kosciuszko Bridge project goals and objectives (Duchaczek & Skorupka, 2016). The design criteria are mainly used for developing various project alternatives like NYSDOT structure of the design. The criteria are generally inclusive of various parameters like design speed, the width of the lane and lastly sight distances.

Project Goals and Objectives

No build alternatives: Under the regulation of NEPA (National Environment Policy Act) and SEQRA (State environment quality review Act), DEIS is generally required to include various kinds of things like “No build” and “No action”. No alternative mainly focuses on “Do Nothing” except for continuing the process of current maintenance and efforts for its repairing (Duchaczek & Ma?ko, 2015).

Transport System management (TSM): An alternative to TSM can be easily used for accessing low-cost operation which will be used for accessing the transportation needs.

Rehabilitation of Bridge: In this particular category major rehabilitation of the current bridge is required on daily basis (Duchaczek & Ma?ko, 2017). It mainly requires various phases which can be used for incorporation of use of temporary bridge which can be easily used for incorporating traffic during the construction phase of the given of the project.

Rehabilitation with additional capacity: Under this particular alternative, the bridge can be used for rehabilitation to the similar above but in the competition phase of the project mainly deals with associated roadways which can be easily used for additional capacity and improvement of safety.

Bridge replacement: This particular alternative analysis process is mainly used in a wide range of concepts which can be easily used in the construction or replacement of the current bridge (Kobielak, Hutnik & Zamiar, 2015). A proper kind of replacement facility is required which is located parallel to the current structure which is built on alignment.

During the process of EIS, some kinds of alternatives are required for traffic capacity, safety and various kinds of structural needs of the Kosciuszko Bridge project. NYSDOT while working with elected officials and goals has come with elected officials which can be used for placing various goals and objectives. Any kind of alternative which is considered at this phase required for seeking into various goals and objective of the given project that is Kosciuszko Bridge (Duchaczek & Ma?ko, 2016). Along with these, it requires a proper balancing of needs of the project with a wide range that is social, economic and environmental needs. There is a certain number of goals and objectives which needs to be developed for this Kosciuszko Bridge project.

There is a certain number of transportation goals which can be achieved by this project:

• It is will improve the various traffic operation, reduce delay along with increasing efficiency and reliability.
• It will be helpful in minimizing the diversion of auto and truck traffic to the various local street in both cases that is construction and in long-term.

Under the national policy, it is the duty to give special effort for preserving the natural beauty of both countryside, public park, recreation land and historic beauty sites. Under the US Department of Transportation Act 1996, a special provision was adopted which can be easily used for the protection of these resources (Mahmoud, 2017). This particular act is known as section 4(f) and it mainly stipulates the FHWA which does not improve any program or project which requires any kind of public space like wildlife or public park. Any kind of land from the historic site, local place is not considered to be feasible to use for the construction of this bridge. All kind of possible planning is done which can be done for minimizing any kind of harm which can result from such use have been discussed in details.

Planning and Appraisal

Depending on the review and potential impact of Kosciuszko Bridge project, various bodies like FHWA and NYSDOT have concluded the fact that appropriate method can be easily used for preparing EIS (Environment Impact statement) for Kosciuszko Bridge project. This is mainly inclusive of previous studies which have been completed for the given project (Lee & Sternberg, 2015). Draft and final document of EIS is needed to be completed in proper compliance with the regulation of NEPA and SEQRA. NYSDOT and other agencies need to consider various kinds of environmental concerns during the time of decision making. The above-mentioned documents can easily serve as a proper kind of public discloser which can be used for the discloser of the environmental effects of the project.

Scoping process is considered to be the earliest kind of opportunity platform which is needed for the preparation of DEIS (Duchaczek, 2016). It various kinds of public process which is used for confirmation of various goals and objectives of the effort of DEIS. The ultimate goal of scoping is to easily identify various kinds of concern and ideas which can be used which can be easily used for DEIS analysis (Sivakumar et al., 2017). Scoping can be considered to be a well-known opportunity which can be used for public review. Recommendation for proper consideration and alternatives needs to be addressed in the DEIS.

Prior to the starting of the public scoping method, NYSDOT comes up with various kinds of open houses which are based in Brooklyn and Queens (Landers, 2015). It aims in meeting with community boards along with other agencies and various elected officials. From the various efforts, NYSDOT has gained some of the initial understanding which is considered to various community members, business group and other kinds of stakeholders.

Procurement can be easily stated as a well-known method which repeats itself for certain kinds of methods. Procuring is all about consuming resource which can be used for converting available inputs into desired or required outputs (Sykutera et al., 2018). Kosciuszko Bridge project comes up with various kinds of opportunities for different local business and disadvantaged business enterprise (DBE). More than 70 million dollars were offered to Kosciuszko Bridge project which has been allocated to various small business as a part of Disadvantage Business (DBE) Enterprise program (Yuan et al., 2018). The project team of Kosciuszko Bridge is actively making recruiting of DBE certified business. There are some work areas which needs to be identified as

• Furnishing and installation of reinforcement steel.
• Furnishing and proper delivery of various filling materials for this project.
• Proper electrical materials for supply.
• Designing services as per the recruitment.
• Supply of various concrete materials.
• Landscaping of various materials.

Environmental Impact Assessment

Conclusion

From the above discussion, it can be easily concluded that this report is all about Kosciuszko Bridge. FHWA (Federal Highway Administration) in cooperation with NYSDOT (New York State Department of Transport) will easily prepare a document which will help in analyzing various required improvement in Kosciuszko Bridge. This particular bridge is considered to be a 1.1-mile segment which runs on Brooklyn- Queen Expressway. With the joint venture between the National Environment Policy Act (NEPA) and New York State Quality Review Act (SEQRA) a public scoping will be conducted on this project. This method will be helpful for understanding the social, environmental issues which are provided in the Draft environment impact statement (DEIS). This particular process aims at ensuring the fact that DEIS is concise in nature. A comprehensive document generally tends to provide all concern related to public issues. Draft scoping is taken to be the first step which can be used for the preparation of DEIS of Kosciuszko Bridge project. In the above pages of the report, a brief background of the construction project has been provided. After that different types of alternatives which should have considered in the project has been discussed in detail. Various kinds of project procedure and methodologies have been discussed in detail which can be easily used for taking consideration of DEIS. In the above pages of the report, a proper location and background of the Kosciuszko Bridge project have been provided. Different aspects of the project like alternatives, planning, and appraisal, environmental impact assessment, public scoping/ involvement, procurement have been discussed in detail.

References

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