VIDEO New designs unveiled for New York's Kosciuszko Bridge
22 February 2010
The New York state Department of Transportation has unveiled four designs for the new Kosciuszko Bridge on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.
Each of the designs - cable stay, arch, box girder, deck arch - features five lanes in each direction, a pedestrian walkway and a bicycle lane.
The public will now have a chance to vote on which design will be chosen for construction.
The total construction cost is expected to reach US$ 1 billion. Department of Transportation spokesman Adam Levine said, "For a bridge that is a mile long in New York City, US$ 1 billion is the going rate."
Construction is expected to start in 2014 and take four years.
The current Kosciuszko Bridge has three lanes in each direction and is a truss bridge constructed in 1939.
It carries 160000 vehicles every day and has an accident rate six times the state's average.
According to the General Contractors Association its condition makes it the worst bridge in New York City's five boroughs.
Named after Thaddeus Kosciuszko (1746-1817), a Polish engineer, philosopher and libertarian who fought on the side of the Republican forces during the American War of Independence (1775-1783), it spans Newtown Creek between the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens.
