New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority intends to award a four-year, $236.5 million contract to rebuild the Queens Midtown Tunnel, which Hurricane Sandy heavily damaged and has since been operating with temporary repairs.
The authority's bridges and tunnels committee on March 23 approved the contract with Judlau Contracting Inc. Full board approval is expected on March 25.
The work is expected to begin this summer and will include nighttime and weekend tube and lane closures, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement. The bulk of the work is Sandy-related to help restore the tunnel to a pre-storm state of good repair after 40% of the length of the tunnel was submerged in 12 million gallons of corrosive salt water during the Oct. 29, 2012, storm.
It will also include several capital projects in an effort to streamline the work and minimize closures that would affect traffic, said Cuomo.
The project is being funded with a portion of the $336 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency grant money received for Sandy-related repairs at the Hugh L. Carey and Queens Midtown tunnels, and through the MTA Bridges and Tunnels capital program.
