The MTA board is expected to vote to approve a $249 million overhaul of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge this week.
The plan centers around the installation of a dehumidification system for the four main cables that support the bridge — the longest suspension bridge in North America — which MTA officials say will keep corrosion at bay for decades.
“It’s a new technology to us, but it’s very well-proven around the world,” MTA’s construction and development head, Jamie Torres-Springer, told the Daily News. “It’s been used particularly for bridges in Japan, and we’ve just seen it used successfully on the [Port Authority’s] George Washington Bridge.”
The system involves encasing each of the Verrazzano’s four massive “main cables” — made up of 26,108 wires apiece — in an elastic sheath, and pumping warm dry air into the cables, bringing the humidity to below 50%, MTA engineers told The News.
Keeping the cables bathed in arid air should stop any ongoing corrosion in its tracks, as well as ward off any future damage to the cables.
“Over time, the cables suffer from the impacts of humidity, which causes corrosion to accelerate,” Torres-Springer said. “Because of increasing humidity in our environment, in our climate, it becomes more of an issue and a risk, so we’re taking action on that.”
MTA’s board will consider the contract award this week, which, if approved, would give Skanska Koch Inc. $249 million to construct the system and maintain it for five years. Officials said the system should take about four years to build.
During that work, crews will also replace the bridge lights, hand ropes, and the hardware attaching the main cables to the roadway suspension ropes. The contract also calls for the the installation of a new acoustic monitoring system to detect wire breaks.
“Once the project is completed, in essence we’re going to have a completely rehabilitated suspension system,” said Aris Stathopoulos, deputy chief engineer for the MTA’s Construction and Development wing.
A similar project is already underway on the Queens span of the Triboro Bridge, where contractor American Bridge Company is fulfilling a $44.5 million contract to dehumidify the bridge’s main cables. That project is expected to be completed by September 2027.
The Verrazzano dehumidification project was one of a handful of projects stalled last year when Gov. Hochul paused congestion pricing.
Dehumidification of the cables on two other MTA spans — those of the Throgs Neck and Whitestone bridges — is expected to be undertaken as part of the recently approved 2025-2029 MTA capital plan, with $217 million already budgeted to cover the pair of smaller bridges.
