Daily News from New York, New York • 289

iT Sunday. September 24. 1989 DAILY NEWS- -KL--BSI-3 Bridge work reveals problems as city struggles to solve them tF? SPAN FROM PAGE ONE center of the 6.200 span In an effort to more evenly distribute the weight of the trains. The move was never made and the bridge continued to deteriorate. Just so no one thinks the job is simple, the Manhattan Bridge has been under reconstruction since 1982, and that work is not scheduled for completion until 1999 if all contracted work is completed on time and no other problems are uncovered.

A complicated schedule of lane closings and subway track shutdowns have thrown drivers and straphangers into turmoil since the work was begun. During the early stages of the rehabilitation, subway service was suspended on the bridge between morning and evening rush hours so that workers could come in. "That was not working." Deitch explained. "Much of the work could not be accomplished in that short a time span. So we sat down with the TA to work out a more realistic work schedule." Walk on the wild side The Manhattan Bridge supports seven lanes of traffic and four railroad tracks.

Driving and riding along the bridge is a non-event, but you get an entirely different picture if you walk along the traffic lanes. The rumblings felt through the pavement every time a truck or bus passes shake you, but you can actually feel and see the bridge move whenever a train goes by. Since the bridge is located in one of the busiest subway corridors in the city, trains pass quite often. Watching from mid-span, a viewer can TRAIN rumbles over Manhattan Bridge. Experts say span should be redesigned to relieve stress.

see the bridge dipping and rising as-a train approaches and passes. "Picture that happening millions of times," said Samuel Schwartz, the city's deputy commissioner of transportation, as he pointed out the movement of the bridge during a recent visit "This is our biggest concern. The bridge is being continuously twisted by the weight and movement of the trains." As Schwartz walked the bridge, he pointed out the workmen who scramble over the steel structure on a daily basis. The men worked amid the steel supports' beneath the bridge, shoring up steel beams and making temporary repairs to where cracks have developed or serious corrosion is shown. "With the full work expected to be completed in 1999, we will be nursing this bridge along for years." Schwartz explained.

"Until the work is completed, there will usually be at least one traffic lane closed, and full subway service is years away." During the coming years, the bridge could turn into a Pandora's Box of bad news. Schwartz said the deeper they dig into the bridge, the more problems they uncover. Right now. when inspectors find a problem, a design for the fix is created immediately and repairs are implemented. The Transit Authority is doing an adroit balancing act with only two of the bridge's four tracks available at any one time.

Full BMT service is a dim memory to riders. A suggestion that during the bridge's rehabilitation the subway tracks could be moved away from the outside of the bridge was met with a look of horror on Schwartz's face. "We have absolutely no idea what that would do to the structure of the bridge," said Schwartz. Major rehabilitation work has been delayed for the last several months while state officials draw up new design plans for the bridge. The work stoppage was caused by the withdrawal of the main contractor due to major problems with designs.

Aside from that, a faulty design has also knocked out the bridge's traveler a movable platform suspended beneath the main span and used by workers performing jobs under the bridge. Over the next 10 years, more than $1 billion will be spent to refurbish the East River Bridges. would be no easy way to reposition tunnels and create the new approaches that would be necessary." Fisher said the Canal St area would be a poor location for a subway tunnel because of the high water table and poor soil conditions. He explained that, at first, it would have to be decided just what type of benefit could be gained by building a new subway tunnel. But, even with a very compelling reason to take train service off the bridge, the costs would be astronomical.

"It would also take a positive attitude on the part of the people who would be most affected by any decision like this," he added. "It would be a tough job under any circumstances. If the people fought it tooth and nail, it would take twice as long." Transit officials said it would take a critical factor-like the complete deterioration of the bridge before the construction of a new subway tunnel would be even By CHARLES EATON Daily Ne-s Staf vVmer One would think that taking the trains off the Manhattan Bridge and building a new tunnel under the East River would be a great solution to a 90-year-old problem right? Wrong, The design, planning and construction of a new subway tunnel would take at least 20 years and cost upwards of $1 billion. Better to fix the bridge. Pete Fisher, Transit Authority project manager, is in the midst of finishing work on the 63d St.

subway tunnel, soon to be opened between Manhattan and Queens. Discussing the possibility of embarking on another tunnel construction project, he said it wouldn't be an easy job. "Building a new subway tunnel in the area of the Manhattan Bridge would be a difficult and expensive job," said Fisher. "The areas on both sides of the bridge are already very well developed and there "Jf i 1V ti-' 'I 1 i 1 (if? ij 5 ft -St 'I I Ajf-tsr-nt 'IH -mil I IK if -r Mi -in i v- -i 3 i IN FEBRUARY, the upper roadwav to Brooklyn was closed in order for repair work to be done..