Three contractors bid Contract TN-9A, Miscellaneous Structural Rehabilitation at the Throgs Neck Bridge, when MTA Construction & Development opened the job on Nov. 18. The tab puts El Sol Contracting/ES II Enterprises JV on top at an evaluated $149,674,992. That makes the joint venture the apparent low bidder. There is no award yet.

TN-9A is an A+B contract, so each bid is a construction price (A) plus a dollar value for the milestone schedule the bidder commits to (B). El Sol's A price was $118,624,992 and its B was $31,050,000. Ahern Painting Contractors came second at $157,546,909 evaluated ($127,426,909 A, $30,120,000 B). Kiewit Infrastructure Co. was third at $192,962,000 evaluated ($163,862,000 A, $29,100,000 B).

El Sol finished $7,871,917 ahead of Ahern, a 5.3% gap. Kiewit's evaluated number is 28.9% above the low, and on A price alone the spread is 38.1%. Kiewit offered the shortest schedule, the smallest B, but could not close a $45 million price gap. The notice put the job at over $100 million, with goals of 15% MBE, 15% WBE and 6% SDVOB, 100% MTA funding and a 1,260-day term.

The scope is heavy bridge steel. According to the solicitation notice, crews will replace sub-floor beams, repair deteriorated floor beams and stringers, and replace cracked deck rib bearing plates on the Bronx and Queens approaches. They will install new high-strength bolts wherever bolts are missing, loose or sheared. They will also replace the tower link assemblies, rehabilitate the tower wind pins, replace sign structure No. 3 on the Queens approach, and clean and paint Bronx approach spans 39 to 47. The tower link and wind pin work requires temporary supports.

The Throgs Neck opened in 1961 to take pressure off the Bronx-Whitestone. It links the Bronx and Queens where the East River meets Long Island Sound, and it is a piece of the region's interstate highway network. C&D is lining up more work there. In September it advertised a project management consultant contract, CS00041B, to oversee TN-9A/TN-9P structural rehabilitation and painting, TN-9H prototype rehabilitation of the approach substructures, and two small-business jobs at the service building: TNM-405, sidewalks and curbs, and TNM-407, guiderail and bollards.

Why this matters. Three bidders on a job this size shows how few firms will take on tower and approach steel on a major toll bridge that stays open to traffic. The "TN-9P" in the consultant notice, and TN-9H behind it, point to more Throgs Neck steel and substructure work for the firms that do.

What to do next. Steel fabricators, bolting and ironworker subs, containment and painting shops, and maintenance-and-protection-of-traffic crews should price to El Sol's number. The JV holds the apparent low, not a contract. Keep an eye on the TN-9H and TN-9P packages as they move to bid. The board listing is RFI-001905.

Update, Sept. 28, 2026: C&D's 2025 award list shows TN-9A awarded to El Sol Contracting/ES II Enterprises JV on Dec. 29, 2025, for $118,624,992, the JV's A price.