New York pride

mageba’s team in New York is constantly filled with pride in the role it has played in supporting the construction and maintenance of the city’s key bridges – for instance, when the bridges feature prominently in events such as this month's New York City Marathon.

When the annual New York City Marathon takes place in November, with close to 50,000 runners passing through all of the city’s five boroughs, our team in New York is happy to let friends and family know that they had played a part in the maintenance of the two most prominent bridge structures along the route – the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and the Queensboro Bridge. The race started, as every year, on the spectacular Verrazzano Narrows Bridge which connects the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Staten Island – a structure for which mageba delivered a complex expansion joint replacement solution in 2017. After 15 of the race’s 26.2 miles, the route crosses the iconic Queensboro Bridge, which connects two more of the city’s boroughs, Queens and Manhattan – a structure for which mageba has also supplied replacement expansion joints.

In fact, these are just two of the five major bridges in and around New York City for which mageba has supplied sophisticated expansion joint solutions in recent years. For the George Washington Bridge which connects Manhattan with New Jersey across the Hudson River, mageba supplied replacement finger-type expansion joints of the TENSA®FINGER type (2021 to 2022). For the Bayonne Bridge between Staten Island and New Jersey – the longest steel arch bridge in the world from 1931 until 1976 – we supplied the TENSA®FINGER sliding finger joints needed when the deck was raised (2015 to 2017). And for the new Tappan Zee Bridge across the Hudson River, just north of New York City, we supplied the enormous 18-gap TENSA®MODULAR expansion joints required for the bridge’s construction (2015 to 2018).

But it is not in a spirit of boasting that our local team would mention this impressive track record – it is with the well-justified pride in a job well done and in their contribution to developing and maintaining the city’s wonderful bridge structure heritage – with solutions that promise excellent long-term performance for the benefit of the city’s population for decades to come.

This picture was taken by a member of mageba’s New York team in the closing stages of the city’s marathon in Manhattan – not far from mageba’s office on Broadway

The marathon started, as every year, on the spectacular Verrazzano Narrows Bridge – the world’s
longest suspension bridge from 1964 until 1981 and a vital New York City inter-borough connection

A TENSA®FINGER sliding finger expansion joint with a movement capacity of 2,700mm after installation on the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge in 2017 to replace an existing joint

Installation on the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge of the new substructure of a sliding finger expansion joint with a movement capacity of 2,000 mm

Like the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge, the Queensboro Bridge also connects two of New York City’s five boroughs – Manhattan and Queens – and required its expansion joints to be replaced

Installation of a mageba TENSA®MODULAR expansion joint in the deck of the Queensboro Bridge in October 2022 – just a month before the marathon would pass over the bridge

The George Washington Bridge, which connects Manhattan with New Jersey across the Hudson River, is equipped with mageba finger-type expansion joints

Installation of mageba TENSA®FINGER expansion joints in the deck of the George Washington Bridge to replace old existing joints (2021 – 2022)

The Bayonne Bridge between New York City’s Staten Island and New Jersey – the longest steel arch bridge in the world from 1931 until 1976 – has mageba TENSA®FINGER expansion joints in its recently raised deck

Installation of a TENSA®FINGER sliding finger joint with 800 mm movement capacity in the newly raised deck of the Bayonne Bridge

The new Tappan Zee Bridge across the Hudson River, just north of New York City, also features mageba TENSA®MODULAR expansion joints at 23 locations

Lifting of an enormous 18-gap TENSA®MODULAR joint – 29 m (95 feet) long, 3.5 m (12 feet) wide and 57,000 kg (125,000 lbs) – off a barge onto the deck of the new Tappan Zee Bridge