Major Resurfacing Project To Get Underway On FDR Drive
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A major resurfacing project was about to get underway Monday on the FDR Drive, and New Yorkers had mixed feelings about it all.
The work is kicking off Monday night and will last six months.
The repairs will be done on various sections of the FDR Drive and will involve at least one lane closure each night, officials said.
This week, the work zone will be on an approximately one-mile stretch of the northbound FDR Drive on the edge of the Lower East Side, from Montgomery Street to Houston Street, CBS2 reported.
But in all, the resurfacing project will involve about half of the entire surface of the FDR, from the Battery to the Robert F. Kennedy Triborough Bridge. The project will happen in sections between about 11 p.m. and 6 p.m., Monday through Friday.
"I know this probably gladdens the hearts of many New Yorkers," said DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg. She calls the project "super challenging," reports WCBS 880's Rich Lamb.
"It's a pretty old roadway," Trottenberg said. "It has a bunch of different conditions, weight restrictions, ownership between the city and the state passes back and forth 10 times."
As CBS2's Steve Langford reported, many believe the repaving project is good news.
"It definitely needs to be repaved because the road is horrible," one motorist said.
"I think it's a good idea," one man said. "I haven't lost a tire, but I've hit a lot of potholes and probably caused a lot of damage to my suspension."
It is also bad news.
"It's sucks. It really, really sucks," a man said.
"It's two lanes closed at a time; one lane of moving traffic," said Galileo Orlando, the Deputy Commissioner for Roadway Repair and Maintenance for the DOT.
The repaving of the FDR is projected to cost just $11 million dollars, which certainly makes some wonder why it wasn't done before.
"Part of the reason the work hasn't been done on it is it's extremely difficult to do logistically, because it's also carrying 150,000 vehicles per day," Trottenberg said.
Street work now in progress along Columbus Avenue on the Upper West Side shows how the delay between removing old pavement and resurfacing can be, at the very least, annoying.
The DOT said the FDR resurfacing will be handled differently.
"In this case, we're going to mill and pave the same night, so there won't be any milled areas left open, for the most part," Orlando said.
As for noise interrupting sleep for East Siders, the DOT said it will do its best.
"We are considerate of our neighbors while we do this work," Orlando said. "Once they start this work, it moves relatively quickly, and we ask everybody to be patient."
Orlando promises the FDR will end up very smooth.
"We've done little bits and pieces over the years, but this is certainly the most extensive resurfacing project of the FDR in memory."
The DOT said drivers should check its website for updates throughout the summer and fall on which section of the FDR is being repaved.