我n a new phase of a long dispute over extra costs, the New York State Thruway Authority has denied all but a tiny fraction of the $930-million design-build consortium's claim for extra costs in constructing the Mario M. Cuomo bridge in New York state.

The claim determination awarded the Fluor-led consortium $28-million instead, for a mixture of comparatively small added costs and time-extensions, keeping the project well within its budget, the authority stated.

Tappan Zee Constructor, said in a statement it is still reviewing the determination, which it said encompassed 3,000 pages including all appendices. The consortium also stated it is pleased the contractual claim review process, begun in 2018, is moving forward rather than the thruway authority "continuing to draw out the claims process," which places burdens on the companies involved and "ultimately" New York taxpayers.

财团会员还包括美国桥梁公司，花岗岩建筑东北公司和特雷勒兄弟公司

2月，财团filed a lawsuit在纽约州索赔法院，在桥上寻求额外费用，该桥梁于2018年开放，并在以后实现了实质性完成。新利18备用官网登录

The consortium said it temporarily withdrew its lawsuit in order for the established Thruway Authority dispute resolution process to play out but added it reserves its right to sue again.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) has frequently said the bridge was done on-time and on-budget and that the project and others during his tenure prove the viability of large state infrastructure projects. The cost of the bridge project has often been tied to the toll charged to cross the bridge, a sensitive issue with regional motorists who rely on it.

The main determination document runs to 380 pages, and ENR has not reviewed the complete text. It crystalizes some of the issues related to design-build on the $3.14-billion project and the controversially blurry border line where the design, quality control and owner-oversight converge. The thruway authority said most of the consortium's claims lack merit, failed to comply with notice requirements or were based on improper damage calculations.

但是，释放的零件以及当局项目主任杰米·巴巴斯（Jamie Barbas）的声明，他做出了决心，围绕着Thruway Agency行使其监督项目质量控制和质量保证的权利。

Under its contract, the design-build consortium had responsibility for QA and QC, and it hired other companies to help carry out that work.

But the authority sought to exercise oversight of the design-builder's quality control and found places where it demanded changes in the work, according to Barbas. "As part of our oversight, we felt responsible to do that work," she said in an interview. "We wanted to be satisfied that the QC and QA entities were following quality protocols."

Barbas补充说：“我们希望他们遵循。”

A major source of trouble in the consortium's eyes was the authority's micromanagement deep into the design process. It allegedly added hundreds of millions of dollars of extra costs for the constructor, the consortium lawsuit had claimed.

The authority "and its agents regularly performed unnecessary, detailed reviews" of the consortium's design, which "significantly impeded and disrupted the design development process." The design-build contract specifically required the authority to work collaboratively with the constructor, said the consortium, and expedite submittal and review of changes without delaying design and construction and adding to costs.

我n the lawsuit, the consortium says the interference and long, drawn-out analysis and delays included a bridge perimeter barrier system, steel pipes, pile caps and the structure's concrete pedestal.

Thruway: Oversight Saved Errors, Costs

但是巴巴斯的裁决说，通道管理局对质量的监督取得了昂贵的错误和未来的成本。新利18备用官网登录

Early in the project, the authority found that the design-build consortium's pile welding and testing program "lacked sufficient rigor" to properly spot "the extent of weld deficiencies" common early in foundation work. New testing criteria suggested by the agency corrected the problem, it states, and the weld quality improved.

最近，通道管理局说，它发现了锚管制造的问题。必须用“广泛的原位测试”代替各种缺失的质量记录，并允许Thruway权力修改“许多地面管道组装”。

巴巴斯说：“虽然桥梁的强度和公共安全不是问题，但该项目期间所做的更改必将改善管道组件的长期性能，因为合同要求未来几十年没有进行任何重大维护。”

The $28-million in additional payments that Barbas granted are a mixed bag. Some payments granted to the consortium included time extensions for several winter storms and some traffic barrier changes. Some other costs granted relate to a fatal tugboat accident unconnected to the construction.

Still other granted claims concern the public walkway on the new structure. Several granted claims involve partial denials and mixtures of compensable and non-compensable time extensions.

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