Daily News from New York, New York • 155

"I March TCI 989" "Bx 3 DAILY NEWS em oitii loooire crossing HYLAN Blvd. Bridge over Lemon Creek in Staten Island is rated the worst in the city and the reason appears obvious. jm hughes daily news Legislature must see and approve a bill to do so, said the spokesman. On the Manhattan Bridge, still to be designed or scheduled are repairs of cables and trusses on the east side, repairs of the east-side subway frame, complete replacement of the lower roadway and rehabilitation of the lower roadway approaches. The corroded beams were discovered, as contracts were being written to rehabilitate the west upper roadway.

This was scheduled to be closed to start work later this year, with completion planned for 1995. The unstarted projects represent $141.1 million out of the $277.1 million budgeted for the bridge's com- plete rehabilitation, scheduled for 1997 completion. Williamsburg lagging Emergency repairs have been made on the Williamsburg Bridge, but major projects representing $280 million of $312.5 million earmarked for reconstructing that bridge have yet to go into design. These include rehabilitating the main bridge and cables, and constructing new approaches at both ends. Construction bids are not expected to be let for about two years.

Completion is scheduled for 1997. Repairs are further along on the Brooklyn Bridge. Rehabilitation of approaches and ramps at both ends, reflecting $43 million of the bridge's $175.5 million repair budget, have not been started. Completion date is 1995. Cable suspenders and stays are being replaced now.

On the Queensboro Bridge, a $75 million rehabilitation of Queens side approach trusses and the lower inner roadways is still in design; and yet to be designed is a $29 million rehabilitation of the outer lower road- ways and approaches. The total repair tab is $237.5 million. Estimated completion is in 1993. nnITH EMERGENCY repairs "Ji continuing and major reha-W bilitation still in the design stage, motorists again face severe traffic restrictions on the 79-year-old Manhattan Bridge, which carries about 150,000 vehicles a day. Two Brooklyn-bound lanes on the upper deck have been closed since it was found that two beams supporting the roadway had dropped several inches because of rust The lanes will remain closed at least until July, when repairs should be completed, according to Samuel Schwartz, chief engineer of the city Department of Transportation.

The two remaining lanes on the upper roadway are carrying traffic to Manhattan, and the three lower lanes are carrying traffic to Brooklyn. Two subway tracks on the bridge remain in operation; two others had been closed for repairs before the beam corrosion was discovered. Besides correcting the corrosion, the city has to replace about 10 steel plates and the damaged concrete underneath them. Numerous delays The state began a major rebuilding effort on the Manhattan Bridge in 1982. But the project has been hit with numerous delays caused by worsening conditions, design flaws and problems with contractors, consultants and financing.

After the 1970s fiscal crisis eroded city budgets, the state took over contracting and administrative responsibilities for repairing and upgrading the city-owned bridges. But the city is financing the projects. All the bridge repair programs have run into delays, according to a Department of Transportation spokesman. The state would like to get rid of the responsibility and the city would like to take back control, but the State BRIDGE CROSSING BOROUGH GRADE BUILT COMMENTS Aartgg I5gg fcansfSar -v. Brorer ft 1951 Coed coogiaa Mardings Aye.

R'mond Lake Dam S.I. 6 1929 Good condition E. 238th St. Bronx River Bron 6. 1930 Good condition Travis Ave.

Main Creek S.I. 5- 1930 Sandblast and paint exposed" PmtoMa Eaatchestar Bays BrofW 1908 Raptooedamael timber Gander system. Dae- Ocean Ave. Kings Sheepshead Bay 1940 Replace fasteners, deteriorated fend er system, and bracing members 1904 Good condition Bronx Bronx River E. 153d St.

1S97 Ftf acotr pochat CTremontAve. awOi stone. Ra- ffiix ifdnir saggomig spainis fHPWB WVJ8ia: a Westchester Ave. Bronx River Bronx 5 1937 Fid scour pockets with stone. Brora CM.

Gnmttm Bm 5 1820 Reef minor Bronx Blvd. Bronx River Bronx 5 1920 Repair minor spalling. Arthur SA. 194 SawWaetentf i eaiflt exDoeadd Meet deck. Repair apaledooncreta.

Forest Ave. Stream Creek Queens 5 1906 Repair minor spsUnfl t.UStL... Bronx 8 Gceondon Northern Blvd. Alley Creek Queens 5 1931 Fill scour pockets with stone. Park Road Bronx River Bronx 4 1920 Repair minor at 204th St.

spalling E.130ttSt BronxRNer Bronx 4 1925 Repairininor Slater Blvd. New Creek S.I. 4 1935 Repair minor soanmg poipia Fcow pocketf belpweuriwrt J' Remewe awl -leplace sectioe of I Chelsea Road Sawmill Creek S.I. 4 1930 FiH void under timber supports. Protect exposed piles.

Repair spalls. 102dSL Kawtree Basin Qoeene 3 1935 Rep air fasteners jMj.saT;rid bracing, Fordham Road Bronx River Bronx 3 1907 Severe spalling. ment early this year with responsibility over bridges but without the independent clout of a commission. Still, the bureau was able to find emergency authorizations that let it slash red tape to reopen the Williamsburg in 112 days last spring, after the bridge was closed to traffic, by pushing repairs that could have taken another month through routine bureaucratic channels, Schwartz said. The bureau was instrumental in multiplying the bridge repair force in four months, he said, by adding 50 workers to an emergency repair unit Thirty workers make up "makesafe" teams and 20 are in "flag" teams.

The "makesafe" crews will react on the same day to an inspector's report of serious damage, and make emergency repairs, according to Bernard McCoy, assistant commissioner in charge of maintenance and operations. The flag team then will move in "within a week" and make permanent repairs, McCoy said. Two weeks ago, a "makesafe" crew went to the Bedford Park Bridge at Jerome and Paul Aves. in the Bronx, after an inspector reported that a support beam looked out of place. While one group checked the beam, another checked out the nearby 205th St Bridge as a possible detour in case the Bedford Park Bridge had to be closed, McCoy said.

Instead, the 205th St Bridge was found to need serious' repairs while Bedford Park beam was found to. fbe-in place. -For some, inexplicable reason, it just was built'differentry BRIDGES FROM PAGE ONE at $312.5 million; the job is expected to be completed in 1997. "Our dream is to enter the next century with our bridges as good as we received them," Schwartz said. "The only way this can happen is if the state Legislature adopts the mayor's program for dedicated funding a money source that doesn't get lost in another fiscal crisis." Mayor Koch last year proposed a bill which died in the Legislature that asked for creation of a bridge commission to take control of maintaining all the city's bridges.

The mayor suggested a "pay-as-you-go-scheme" to help finance the commission. This would include imposition of an auto use tax, increased auto-registration and taxi-medallion fees and higher sales taxes. A City Hall spokesman said the mayor plans to submit a revised proposal to the Legislature, asking again for establishment of a bridge commission. The commission "would be somewhere between an authority (like the Port Authority) and a city agency, but independent of city government," Schwartz said. It would be restricted to maintaining and repairing bridges and would not build them, he said.

"It would have a funding source impervious to budget swings. In a financial crisis (when sharp budget cuts are made), when we're in an arena with AIDS, crime, schools and hospitals, public works are the first to go." A Bureau of Bridges was created withi the Transportation Depart- remove debris in channel, repair ribs. S.I. Lemon Cr5ek HytenBN. 3 1925 Otepiaced east abutment, ftB -j-v uti.

at Grading of bridges was done on a scale of 7 to 1, with 7 being the Nghest rating. -from the other supports, McCoy said..