LIRR bridge installation, NYC Transit Rockaways station work

There will be no train service along the Long Beach Branch Jan. 30-31 due to the installation of two new MTA Long Island Rail Road bridges over Powell Creek and Hog Island Channel. The $24.5 million project, funded through the MTA Capital Program and Federal Transit Administration grants, will also require the shutdown of train service on four other weekends later this year - March 20-21, March 27-28, May 1-2 and May 15-16.  

In addition to the
weekend dates listed above, work will require the railroad to close the
eastbound platforms at Island Park, Oceanside, East Rockaway and Centre Avenue
on five other weekends: February 6-7, 13-14, 20-21, 27-28 and March 6-7. All
trains will operate from westbound

Both the Powell Creek
Bridge (located between the LIRR’s East Rockaway and Oceanside stations) and
the Hog Island Channel Bridge (located between Oceanside and Island Park
stations) were built in the 1920s and served the LIRR for nearly 90 years.

"Without the long
term financing for new infrastructure that the MTA’s Capital Program provides,
it would be impossible to undertake projects like this," said LIRR
President Helena E. Williams. "These two bridges are being replaced as
part of our ongoing efforts to modernize and ensure safe and reliable service
for our customers for decades to come.

MTA Capital Program funds
for the project total $14.2 million, while the FTA has added $10.3 million. The
international construction company, Kiewit Constructors Inc., is the prime
contractor and Kiewit, in turn, is employing a number of subcontractors. Much
of the material being used has been purchased from local firms in the tri-state
region. The bridge replacement program has created approximately, 47 new full
time jobs, including 12 construction managers at Kiewit and 35 craft labor
positions involving operating engineers, dock builders and laborers. Numerous
LIRR employees will be installing new track and signals over the bridges.

Work on the project began
in November but is only now impacting service. To limit that impact, most of
the work will be done during 48-hour weekend shifts.

The Powell Creek and Hog
Island Bridges are open-deck wooden and steel structures supported by wooden
piles through which water is visible below. Both bridges will be removed and
replaced with pre-cast concrete structures, supported by reinforced
concrete-filled, steel pipe piles, supporting safer, closed-deck concrete track
roadbeds.

A recurring flooding
condition at Powell Creek Bridge, which has at times led to delays and
temporary service suspensions, will be corrected by raising the elevation of
the new bridge by approximately one foot. Bridge walkways will also be
installed at both locations to make it safer for LIRR employees.

The project is being
coordinated with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation,
the U.S. Coast Guard and the Town of Hempstead.

MTA NYC Transit’s ongoing
rehabilitations of stations in the Rockaways continue. The Manhattan-bound A
platforms at Beach 25th, Beach 44th and Beach 67th Streets are scheduled to
close for rehabilitation at 12:01 a.m. on Monday, February 1, 2010 for
approximately four months.

The work includes
installing new canopies over the stairs and platforms, repairing the platforms,
columns, stairs and tracks, replacing the mezzanine and platform floors,
replacing the stations’ lighting and platform edges and installing a new,
high-quality public address system.