A trip to Italy, for – ya know – work
Being the boss has its privileges.
Kelly Maloney has been overseeing the project to transform the former LaSalle Park into the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Park, as senior project manager for construction manager Gilbane Co., which was hired by the Buffalo Urban Development Corp. The task includes shoreline restoration and stabilization, new fields and playgrounds, new paths, new facilities and new landscaping.
It also includes a new pedestrian bridge that will link the park along the Niagara River to the West Side neighborhood on the other side of the Niagara Thruway and CSX Corp. railroad tracks. Crews have started driving the piles into the ground that will support the bridge abutments, with the new span slated to be erected on top in October. Workers began on the park side, and will switch to the 4th Street side next.
While building the bridge will take months, the actual installation could take as little as 12 hours – during which time the Niagara Thruway and the CSX rail tracks will need to be shut down. The overall plan has been approved, but Gilbane is working with CSX and the Thruway Authority to schedule the exact timing.
The old bridge will be torn down once the new one is up.
The new bridge itself is being fabricated at a plant in Italy, where a mock-up of the span will be constructed and shipped to Buffalo to guide the on-site work.
So, of course, Maloney – as the project manager – needed to see it for herself.
“I did go last week to Italy for bridge mock-up,” she told the BUDC board. “It’s Venice, but I had to go for work, ya know? It was really good to see in person.”
Yes, those sounds you heard from the other board members were chuckles.
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