The four-year, nearly $200 million project to reconstruct the Bronx approach roadway at the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge, providing drivers with wider 12-foot lanes and brand new safety shoulders, is entering the final phase of construction. Overnight concrete pours will take place over two weeks starting Wednesday night April 11th, which requires the closure of two southbound lanes heading into Queens. Motorists should expect delays and use the Throgs Neck Bridge as an alternate. The work is dependent on good weather.

The project included the reconstruction of 1,785-feet of elevated roadway at the Bronx end of the bridge as well as the construction of 15 new double-arch concrete piers beneath the bridge that helped support the wider 12-foot lanes and the new safety shoulders.

All of this was accomplished while an average 104,000 vehicles continued using the bridge each day. During the year-long permanent lane closure a reversible lane was used to maintain three traffic lanes during peak drive times to the Bronx in the morning and to Queens in the evening.

Roadway level work will be completed by the summer and the entire project, including final work below the roadway, will be finished on schedule by the end of the year. The contractor on the project, which began in December 2008, is Conti of New York, LLC.