New Bridges Rise in New York

But wait, there’s more.

In a few months, the first of two cable-stayed crossings is to open over the Arthur Kill, between Staten Island and Elizabeth, N.J., replacing the Goethals Bridge. Then, in 2018, the New New York Bridge, also a parallel cable-stayed design, is set to replace the Tappan Zee Bridge across the Hudson River, about 10 miles north of the Bronx.

All three bridge projects are rising on the watch of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who controls the State Department of Transportation (builders of the Kosciuszko), the New York State Thruway Authority (the Tappan Zee) and, with Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (the Goethals).

Cable-stayed technology, Mr. Cuomo said, will ensure that the new bridges “stand the test of time.”

That sounds like a good bet. The technology has been on conspicuous display since 1883.

In John A. Roebling’s hybrid design for the Brooklyn Bridge, the diagonal cables that lend so much drama to the structure were intended to help stay the bridge deck — that is, to keep it rigid. Vertical suspender cables held up the deck, transferring its weight to giant suspension cables and out to enormous anchorages.

Stay cables did not prove necessary. Thereafter, the pure suspension bridge reigned supreme. The Williamsburg, Manhattan, George Washington, Bronx-Whitestone and Throgs Neck Bridges were all suspension bridges, as was the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge of 1964, perhaps the last of its kind.

“We haven’t built big bridges in a while, and the cable-stayed type emerged during that while,” said Guy Nordenson, a prominent structural engineer in New York and a professor at Princeton. (New York has at least two small cable-stayed pedestrian bridges.)

In the meantime, cable-stayed bridges have crossed Tampa Bay in Florida, the Mississippi River in Louisiana, the Charles River in Massachusetts and the Cooper River in South Carolina. They have risen in Mexico and Canada; in Spain, Russia, Norway, Greece, Germany and France; in Vietnam, South Korea, Japan and China— indeed, all over China.

When plans for the new Kosciuszko Bridge were being developed in 2010, nearby neighborhoods were asked about four bridge types: cable-stayed; through arch, like the Hell Gate Bridge; deck arch; and box girder. Of the 121 people who submitted comments to the transportation agency, 53 preferred a cable-stayed bridge and 37 the through arch.

“The stakeholders’ advisory committee was overwhelmingly looking for something that stood out,” said Phil Eng, the former executive deputy commissioner and chief engineer of the state transportation agency, who is now chief operating officer of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

“The cable-stayed option provides the most dramatic visual experience for bridge users and for the local communities in both Brooklyn and Queens,” the transportation agency said in a 2011 report. The bridge, it said, will “act as a visual landmark for New York City.”

Bridge engineers, designers and erectors see other advantages. “The cable-stayed bridge is a relatively simple bridge to build,” said Larry Gillman, the project director for the joint venture— Skanska USA, Kiewit and ECCO III Enterprises— that is constructing the first span and demolishing the existing bridge. HNTB is the designer and engineer, with Bradley C. Touchstone as its architectural consultant.

Construction of the second bridge will be under a separate contract.

Work began in 2014. Eight drilled reinforced foundations were installed, four for each pylon, reaching 150 to 185 feet down to bedrock. The pylons are built of solid concrete up to the height of the bridge deck. After that, they turn into hollow tubes with stairs inside for access to the cable anchorages and to the beacons required by the Federal Aviation Administration.