WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. -- One of the largest construction projects in the country opens to the public Monday near New York City.
The $4 billion project to replace the Tappan Zee Bridge owes quite a bit of the construction to a business in our area.
Although the site of the largest bridge project in the country is a state away, big pieces of it were built in Williamsport.
A celebration and ribbon cutting marked the opening of the eastbound span of the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge.
The bridge crosses the Hudson River north of New York City. It replaces the Tappan Zee Bridge and is the largest bridge project in the country.
The massive girders for the new bridge were built at High Steel Structures in Williamsport.
While there was no celebration there, company officials were happy to hear their hard work paid off.
"It's pretty exciting to be a part of something when you're building a structure that large," said vice president Rusty Wynegar.
Over the past three years, High Steel hired about 200 people to accommodate the $120 million deal.
It's the biggest contract in the company's history.
"The building that you see out here to the back, it was actually built for the Tappan Zee project which gave us additional paint capacity. Everything is produced right here," Wynegar said.
High Steel made hundreds of giant girders for the bridge.
In March of last year, Newswatch 16 was there as the two final beams left the yard in Williamsport.
"We also delivered a total of 50,000 tons of steel in total," Wynegar added.
The Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge may be the largest project workers at High Steel Structures have dealt with, but they also have projects in central Pennsylvania. Steel from the company will be used in the Central Susquehanna Valley Thruway project near Selinsgrove.