SURVEYOR'S NOTEBOOK

Civilized Brooklyn Bridge Surveying

For the second time in three years we were asked to attend to damages of the shielding on the Brooklyn Bridge. Shielding is a type of staging that is fitted to a bridge when construction work is taking place, and both cases related to contact by a crane boom with the shielding that was suspended beneath the bridge.

Fortunately nobody was hurt in either case. In order to get an update on the repairs we (I was joined by our intern, AJ Medeiros, and, in New York City, by our client, Dan McDermott) decided to take the Seastreak ferry from our office in Monmouth County to New York City. The 12:20 pm ferry first makes a stop at 34th Street in the East River, and then doubles back to the foot of Wall Street so we passed underneath the bridge twice which gave us a nice view from beneath.

From the foot of Wall Street we met up with our client at his office and then walked towards the bridge approach and inspected the work from the pedestrian level on the Bridge. Once in Brooklyn we walked from the end of the bridge ramp back to Fulton Landing at the foot of the bridge. Unfortunately there was a line at Grimaldi’s, so we passed on a slice of the best pizza in New York City and a beer. Instead we had another look at the repair work from the Brooklyn side, and then took the ferry to the foot of Wall Street.

At the foot of Wall Street AJ and I took the ferry back to Monmouth County, and on the ferry I updated the status summary on the repairs. Altogether quite a difference from a double bottom fuel tank survey. Instead we had a very scenic ride on public transportation, a nice walk of about three miles, fresh air on a nice spring day, and we were back in Monmouth County by 5 pm complete with an updated status summary.

To make the day even more perfect, there is another Grimaldi’s store only a few hundred yards from the Highlands ferry landing so that is where AJ and I had dinner. Some days everything comes together, but most remarkably a survey like this can only happen due to the amazing revival of ferry services in New York City.