Our History
With a deep and unparalleled knowledge of the New York construction market and a passion for the city it calls home, the General Contractors Association has supported our members for more than 100 years. Formed to build the world class infrastructure that made New York City great in the early 1900s, the GCA remains the respected voice of the heavy construction industry and a powerful advocate for investment to support sustainable growth.
Constructing Water Tunnel #1
GCA Members Built New York
GCA members built the city’s subway system and the roads and bridges that connect the five boroughs of New York together and with the rest of the region. They dug the tunnels to bring clean water to the millions of city residents who desperately needed it. GCA members constructed the foundations for New York’s iconic skyline, and the ports that make it a center of commerce. Today, their work continues with bold new projects that support the city’s impressive infrastructure: GCA members built New York into the metropolis it is today, and keep building for an even better tomorrow.
Digging the foundation of New York’s skyline
“To discuss subway building without reference to the General Contractors Association would be like an attempt to play Hamlet with Hamlet left out.”
Leroy Harkness,
NYS Transit Commissioner, 1925
Boring through bedrock for the Second Avenue subway
Project Highlights by Decade
1909
A group of construction companies banded together to help government agencies and private industry in New York City build the world’s first genuine modern city.
1910s
Water Tunnel #1; Hells Gate Bridge; IRT subway tunnels; Grand Central Terminal
1920s
Water Tunnel # 2; Goethals Bridge; Long Island Expressway; 14th Street and East River Power Plant
1930s
George Washington Bridge; Jacob Riis Park; Lincoln Tunnel
1940s
Jamaica Wastewater Treatment Plant; Belt Parkway; Queens Midtown Tunnel
1950s
Brooklyn Battery Tunnel; Throgs Neck Bridge; Sunrise Highway
1960s
Verrazano Narrows Bridge; SW Brooklyn Marine Transfer Station; Van Wyck Expressway
1970s
Cross Bay Bridge; North River Wastewater Treatment Plant; Second Avenue Subway starts (and stops)
1980s
Water main replacement; Greenpoint Avenue Bridge; 63rd Street Connector; Javits Center
1990s
Ninth Street Bridge; Rikers Island Compost Facility; Oak Point Link
2000s
#7 line extension; East Side Access; Second Avenue Subway restarts; Howland Hook Marine Terminal; WTC reconstruction
2010s
Water Tunnel #3; Second Avenue Subway Phase 1; New NY Bridge; Willis Avenue Bridge