The Canarsie Tunnel is the main connecting route between Brooklyn and Manhattan and serves the L subway line, which is used by more than 300,000 weekday riders. Located under the East River, it was severely damaged by Hurricane Sandy, which destroyed much of the electrical and communications equipment and subsystems. Its rehabilitation contract, awarded in 2017 by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to the joint venture led by OHLA subsidiary, Judlau Contracting, is one of the most outstanding subway actions ever carried out in New York.
The scope of the project included the rehabilitation of the tunnel and complementary actions such as improving the capacity of the First Avenue and Bedford Avenue subway stations and the construction of a new Avenue B substation.
The original contract called for the tunnel to be closed for 24-hour operations. In 2019, the original plan was revised to keep trains active during peak hours and the joint venture met the challenge by concentrating work on night and weekend shifts.
The new plan called for leaving the concrete duct bank in place and stabilizing it using a Fiberglass Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Panel. New fire-resistant armored cables were installed on a stainless-steel cable management system mounted to the tunnel wall. to allow for easier maintenance and inspection.
The company managed to complete the main milestone of the contract three months ahead of schedule, on April 27, 2020. Judlau was honored as 2019 New York Contractor of the Year by ENR in recognition of its achievements on projects at Canarsie Tunnel, Riverside Drive Viaduct, Throgs Neck Bridge, and Queens Midtown Tunnel, among other projects.