Before starting actual work on the bridge, the TBTA destroyed the structures at the future locations of the anchorages. The agency acquired of the within Fort Hamilton, in return for paying for a $12million renovation of the Army installation and giving up of land in Dyker Beach Park. A 1,000-ton World War I monument on the Brooklyn side, within the path of the future Seventh Avenue approach, was placed atop rolling logs and shifted . The right-of-way for the Seventh Avenue approach was also being cleared, and despite initial opposition to the clearing work, all of the residents within the approach's path eventually acquiesced to moving elsewhere. To prevent contractors from delaying work on the expressways on either side of the bridge, Moses warned them of steep fines if the expressways were not completed by the time the bridge was finished.