Community Corner

LIRR to Begin Work on Hampton Bays Bridges

The MTA says the $26.2 million project will commence next month.

The Long Island Rail Road has announced that next month it will begin a two-year project to repair three of its aging bridges in Hampton Bays.

According to statement on their website, the MTA has set aside $26.2 million to revamp the North Highway Bridge, the Montauk Highway Bridge and the Shinnecock Canal Bridge, extending their life by 40 years with waterproofing, new drainage systems, fresh paint and the replacement of bearings and bridge seats.

The North Highway and Montauk Highway bridges will also be raised by 5 inches to accommodate larger trucks and buses.

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All of the bridges were built in the early part of the 20th century with the North Highway Bridge being built in 1907, the Montauk Highway bridge in 1929 and the Shinnecock Canal Bridge constructed in 1931, according to the MTA.

“Rebuilding these bridges, the oldest of which has stood for more than 100 years, will provide a much-needed boost to the economy on the East End of Long Island by creating construction jobs and making travel on the Montauk Branch smoother and more reliable,” LIRR President Helena Williams said.

Find out what's happening in Westhampton-Hampton Bayswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

It is expected that the bridge construction will create 45 jobs though a private contractor.

The bridge reconstruction will create some outages on the LIRR lines including two 72-hour weekday outages in October, according to Williams.

During that time, buses will replace train service.

“As with all of our maintenance projects, our goal is to perform the work during the hours that will affect the fewest customers,” Williams said.


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