Thruway Authority looks to improve Grand Island South Bridges [Video]

2 on Your Side got more information on planned upgrades for the Grand Island South spans to better protect them against earthquakes. So we spoke with local research experts and a local company with plenty of experience in the field.

All of us probably take for granted the structural stability of the South spans of the Grand Island Bridges while crossing them. But then consider the potentially destructive shaking energy from earthquakes like what we saw in the New York City area last week and here in Western New York in February of 2023.  Professor Andreas Stavridis of the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences says, “These recent earthquakes – exactly as you said they’re wake-up calls for us to work around our infrastructure, our buildings and make sure that they can survive what might be happening to them.”

Stavridis says UB’s Structural Engineering and Earthquake Simulation Laboratory has …