New York Thruway sues Cuomo bridge contractors

(The Center Square) — The builders of the $4 billion Mario M. Cuomo bridge in upstate New York are being sued by the state, which alleges that the consortium of companies behind the project used substandard materials.

The New York State Thruway Authority filed the lawsuit in the state Superior Court against Tappan Zee Constructors, alleging breach of contract for allegedly refusing to replace anchor pipes that connect the cables to the three-mile-long bridge that had previously been flagged by state officials for not meeting durability standards.

“The New York State Thruway Authority is committed to ensuring contractor compliance to guarantee the toll payers get what they paid for in the construction of the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge," NYSTA spokesperson Jennifer Givner said in a statement.

The lawsuit alleges that about 60 of the 192 anchor pipes are "not contractually compliant" and require replacement. The state agency is seeking to recover $6 million to cover the costs of "evaluation and remediation" of the construction materials.

"Simultaneously, NYSTA has begun the process to retrofit these components, under the guidance of nation-leading experts in material science, engineering and design," she said. "NYSTA has also commissioned a full independent safety review of the GMMCB, which determined that the retrofit of the components is necessary to ensure their durability and full service life that toll payers paid for."

But Tappan Zee Constructors, which includes American Bridge Company, Granite Construction Northeast, Inc., and Traylor Bros., is defending its work on the span bridge and criticizing the litigation.

“The taxes and toll payer monies being used to pay NYSTA’s legal bills would be much better spent on paying NYSTA’s debts and addressing issues with the 9% of structurally deficient bridges that exist in New York State,” the consortium said in a statement.

The group said it "unequivocally stands by the high quality" of the bridge and "deserves to be compensated for this work," saying it will "continue to pursue our full recovery."

"As we have been throughout this process, we remain focused on our objective of reaching a fair and swift resolution with NYSTA, rather than continuing to draw out the claims process, which places an untenable cost burden on our companies and, ultimately, New York taxpayers.”

Both sides have feuded over unpaid bills for the massive bridge reconstruction project, which took about seven years to complete. The consortium sued the Thruway in 2021, claiming it was owed $960 million for its work building the bridge. It dropped the lawsuit a few months later and agreed to work through a dispute resolution process prescribed in the contract.

New York Congressman Mike Lawler, a Republican representing part of the Hudson Valley region where the bridge is located, wrote to Gov. Kathy Hochul and state transportation officials to express concerns about the structural flaws.

"With a cost of about $4 billion, the state has touted that the bridge is designed to last for more than 100 years without needing any major structural maintenance," he wrote. "Despite this and being completed not even 7 years ago, this critical artery now faces further construction and presumably tens of millions of dollars in additional costs."

"As the largest bridge on the Thruway system, any safety concerns with the bridge pose a severe concern to all residents," Lawler added.