of smoke and flames. By doing so, egress is protected and building oc - cupants have additional time to evacuate safely. The fireproof coating on the underside of the door expands and seals the door opening to prevent the spread of fire to the next floor. BILCO’s fire-rated doors maintain the fire rating of a 2-hour floor ceil - ing assembly between building floors. The door hardware and sealants used in the product are specially selected for this purpose. BILCO’s doors are UL-listed and meet NFPA 251, NFPA 288, ASTM E119 and BS476 Part 22 requirements. They also feature a pan cover designed to accept flooring materials for concealed access. The units chosen for East Side Access range in size from 30 inches x 30 inches to 42 x 60, one of the largest manufactured by the specialty access company. Doors made by BILCO are frequently used in MTA construction proj - ects. In this case, Fontana Metal Sales was the immediate source of the doors used for East Side Access. “It’s a product that the MTA knows and it’s easiest to purchase the known product,’’ said Jason Benfield of the civil engineering team working on the project, Tutor Perini. “It’s easier to get something approved when it’s a product that is known to work in these applications.” Betting on the Future When the LIRR was founded in 1834, the population of Long Island numbered around 37,000. Today it exceeds 2.8 million. As of 2017, about 1.4 million Long Island residents were employed in Manhattan, As the largest city on Lake Erie and one of the most populous urban areas in the country, the City of Cleveland, Ohio, was designed as a global city and today, more than 370,000 people call the city proper home, while the Cleveland-Akron-Canton Combined Statistical Area has a population of more than 3,600,000. A busy metropolis, Cleve - land’s economy relies on diversified sectors, including manufacturing, financial services, healthcare, biomedicals and higher education, with notable destinations and businesses including the Cleveland Clinic, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and the Cleveland Orchestra. However, not all areas of the city were being utilized to their full potential. The Road to Opportunity: Cleveland’s Opportunity Corridor, Section 3
with some commuting as long as two hours each way. For these long- suffering suburbanites, a quicker and more efficient way to commute is long overdue. As the largest transportation infrastructure project currently underway in North America draws to a close, New York officials are optimistic about their vision of the economic future: a future based on drawing workers back to the heart of “The City.” Planners hope for quality-of- life improvements throughout greater New York as well. “This smart, transit-oriented development will help spur economic growth, provide better connections to Metro-North Railroad and lead to reduced au- tomobile traffic and improved air quality in the region,’’ said MTA Acting Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. In short, New York is backing the concept that a world-class transit system is essential for a world-class city. According to Horodniceanu, investment in public transport is “the only way you'll remain com- petitive on a world map, to be like London, Shanghai, or Paris.” Long Islanders hoping to get to work in a timely manner can only welcome this view. Ninety thousand tons of steel and more than 1 million cubic yards of concrete later, the outcome of New York’s bold bet on rail will soon become clear to all.
KATHERINE BONAMO AND THOMAS RENNER write about construction, engineering, architecture, and other trade industry topics for publications throughout the United States.
Photo: ODOT/Kokosing Construction
The area between the terminus of Interstate 490 and University Circle in Cleveland, traversing the Fairfax, Kinsman, and Central
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May 2022
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