rfmcdonald | [URBAN NOTE] "Brooklyn Bridge repair is $100 million over budget, completion date gets pushed back" (Reply)

Reuven Blau's New York Daily News article is alarming. I saw it under repair in 2012, after all.

A repair for the Brooklyn Bridge is $100 million over budget and the completion date has been pushed back yet again due to major cracks and holes discovered during the five years of work, the Daily News has learned.

Engineers discovered more than 3,000 new structural “flags” on the city’s most famous span that will increase the costs of fixes and improvements from $508 million to more than $600 million, according to documents obtained via a Freedom of Information Law request.

The 1,595-foot span was originally set to fully reopen this past April but was delayed for a year. Now, construction won’t be completed until some yet-to-be-disclosed date in 2016, according to city Department of Transportation records.

“During the normal course of the work, DOT identified thousands of additional steel repairs that were needed, which have required additional time and funding for the project,” said department spokeswoman Bonny Tsang.

City Hall has repeatedly authorized added expenditures since the massive rehab project was started in 2010. After scraping off old paint, inspectors discovered multiple fissures, holes and fraying cables, including 30 that were labeled red flags, documents show. Construction crews found cracks in steel beams as wide as 7 inches.