From http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/05/11/2009-05-11_span_plan_crosses_120m.html (http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/05/11/2009-05-11_span_plan_crosses_120m.html):
After several years of delays, planning and community opposition, the cost of replacing the 108-year-old City Island Bridge has risen to $120 million.
Back on Aug. 20, 2003 - when Mayor Bloomberg announced plans for a new high-tech bridge "as unique as the island itself" - the cost was estimated at $32 million.
The new bridge project has yet to get started, with the latest launch date now set for next year...
The current three-lane, fixed-span bridge provides the sole vehicular access to City Island, where the population of about 5,000 multiplies manyfold in the summer when visitors flock to its restaurants, antique stores and quaint fishing-village atmosphere.
Plans call for erecting a temporary span alongside the existing bridge to carry traffic while the new bridge is built.
From Google Earth:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmw2.google.com%2Fmw-panoramio%2Fphotos%2Fmedium%2F5503033.jpg&hash=8314ed3a22ad4df775f9a3e00a014742279acb94)
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmw2.google.com%2Fmw-panoramio%2Fphotos%2Fmedium%2F36934.jpg&hash=1044b26152af5c29f06bf702565cffdc018f8b0d)
120 million dollar sounds like an awful lot for such a short span.
The new span is desperately needed - no matter the cost. That bridge gets soooooo congested in the summer.
Construction costs in New York tend to balloon far beyond their initial projections quite often. Common reasons include but are not limited to: wishful thinking, poor planning, rising material costs, delays in the work, insistence on using more expensive union labor, changing things to appease citizen complaints, and paying off the mafia.
Rofl @ paying off the mafia, even though it's true