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LIRR Post Avenue Bridge in 48 hours 10/21-22; Service Impacts


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#1 CNJRoss

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Posted 17 October 2017 - 10:51 AM

LIRR news release 10/17/17:

 
LIRR to Replace Post Avenue Bridge in 48 hours on Weekend of October 21-22
 
Buses to Substitute for Trains Between Mineola and Hicksville, Other Service Impacts
 

 

During the weekend of October 21-22, workers using cranes and a movable industrial-grade hydraulic lift will remove the 103-year-old Post Avenue Bridge and roll a new pre-assembled one into place. To facilitate the bridge swap, the Long Island Rail Road will need to suspend train service between Mineola and Hicksville for 48 hours. Buses will substitute for Port Jefferson Branch trains and some Ronkonkoma Branch trains. Most Ronkonkoma Branch trains will operate over the Babylon Branch and reach Hicksville via the Central Branch.

 

“We’re working hard to minimize the impacts that our customers will experience during the 48-hour period where service will be disrupted, and we’re working equally hard to get the word out to all our customers well in advance of the work,” said Patrick Nowakowski, President of the Long Island Rail Road. “This location is of central importance to the railroad, figuratively and literally, and all branches will be impacted in some way. Anyone thinking of using the LIRR on Saturday, October 21, or Sunday, October 22, should pick up a copy of our special timetables.”

 

Copies of all branch timetables, and an overview of the bridge work and service changes, can be found at this link: http://web.mta.info/...nstallation.htm

 

The new bridge, which carries the Main Line over Post Avenue at the Westbury Station, will result in long-term improvements to service. It will be 13 feet wider than the current span, offering enough space for the future Main Line Third Track. The new bridge will be two feet, two inches higher than the current bridge, allowing trucks of up to 14 feet to safely pass underneath. The current bridge’s height left it susceptible to strikes by overheight vehicles, causing delays to trains while inspectors determine the structure’s stability and safety.

 

Port Jefferson Branch and Ronkonkoma Branch customers riding the LIRR during this weekend should plan for an additional 40 to 60 minutes of extra travel time, or should consider traveling on alternate branches, including the Montauk Branch or Babylon Branch.

 

Specifics for service changes on the weekend of Oct. 21-22 are detailed by branch below.

 

Port Jefferson Branch

  • Port Jefferson Branch/Ronkonkoma Branch Special Timetable is here: http://web.mta.info/...2017 - KO &%...
  • Buses substitute for trains between Hicksville and Mineola for the entire weekend. Buses are scheduled to allow for 10 minutes of transfer time at both stations in both directions. LIRR customer ambassadors will be at both stations throughout the weekend to assist customers making the connection.
  • Trains between Huntington and Port Jefferson will operate every two hours.
  • Service between Huntington and Penn Station will operate hourly.
  • Carle Place and Westbury will be served by buses.
  • On Friday night, Oct. 20, some trains will operate on adjusted schedules: Passengers on the 9:29 p.m. train from Huntington will change trains at Hicksville to continue west. The 9:41 p.m. train from Port Jefferson will be replaced by a bus that will leave up to 22 minutes earlier than normal.

Ronkonkoma Branch

  • Ronkonkoma Branch/Port Jefferson Branch Special Timetable is here: http://web.mta.info/...2017 - KO &%...
  • Buses substitute for trains between Hicksville and Mineola during the overnight hours. Buses are scheduled to allow for 10 minutes of transfer time at both stations in both directions. LIRR customer ambassadors will be at both stations throughout the weekend to assist customers making the connection.
  • Bethpage customers will use buses between Mineola and Hicksville.
  • Between 7 a.m. and midnight on Saturday and again on Sunday, customers from Farmingdale through Ronkonkoma will travel to and from Penn Station by train with no transfers; trains will be rerouted via the Babylon Branch.
  • Trains will operate between Ronkonkoma and Greenport, on adjusted schedules. On Friday night, Oct. 20, one train will operate on an adjusted schedule: Passengers on the 10:11 p.m. train from Ronkonkoma will change trains at Hicksville to continue west. Passengers traveling on the 9:39 p.m. train from Greenport will board and arrive at normal times.

Babylon Branch, City Terminal Zone, Far Rockaway Branch, Hempstead Branch, Long Beach Branch, Montauk Branch, Oyster Bay Branch, Port Washington Branch, West Hempstead Branch

  • All eastbound and westbound trains will operate on adjusted schedules.
  • Most connecting train times to and from western terminals have also changed.

Impact to Motorists

Post Avenue will be closed between Railroad Avenue and Union Avenue between 8 p.m. on Friday, October 20, and 6 a.m. on Monday, October 23. Motorists are advised to take an alternate route during this period. The marked detour will take motorists nine tenths of a mile east, to cross the railroad at School Street.

 

Northbound Auto Detour

Motorists looking to travel northbound on Post Avenue would turn right at Railroad Avenue and travel for one block, to School Street, to make a left, followed immediately by another left onto Union Avenue for a two-block drive back to Post Avenue to make a right and continue northbound.

 

Southbound Auto Detour

Motorists looking to travel southbound on Post Avenue would turn left at Union Avenue and travel for two blocks, to School Street, to make a right, followed immediately by another right onto Railroad Avenue for a one-block drive back to Post Avenue to make a left and continue southbound.

 

 



#2 CNJRoss

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Posted 25 October 2017 - 10:57 AM

LIRR news release 10/23/17:

 
Westbury’s Post Avenue Bridge Replaced Ahead of Schedule
New Bridge Improves Safety, Infrastructure and Service Reliability
 

 

The Long Island Rail Road today announced that this weekend it had successfully replaced the Post Avenue Bridge in Westbury – a span struck by dozens of overheight trucks in recent years resulting in train delays. Work was completed ahead of schedule with the first regularly scheduled train passing over the new bridge at approximately 1:48 a.m.

 

The new bridge’s height clearance now allows trucks of up to 14 feet to safely pass underneath, improving LIRR system infrastructure and service reliability. The old bridge -- that hovered over Post Avenue at 11 feet 10 inches -- had been struck by trucks between five and nine times per year in each of the past six years. Train delays in both in both directions would loom as LIRR crews worked to determine its safety and structural stability before restoring train service.

 

Patrick Nowakowski, President of the LIRR, announced the project’s successful completion at a meeting Monday morning of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board’s Long Island Rail Road Committee.

 

“The project was one that had to be done in a 52-hour period and I’m happy to report that the project actually finished early, about 1 o’clock in the morning, this morning,” Nowakowski said. “It was a success due to the amount of planning that went into this.”

The completion of the new bridge also marks the first completed initiative related to Third Track since the Main Line Expansion Project was approved in July. The $9.7 million Post Avenue Bridge project, which was executed as a design-build contract, is now 50 feet wide -- 13 feet wider than its predecessor -- a width that allowed for a section of third track to be placed. The $2 billion Third Track project will add a third track to 9.8 miles along the congested Main Line of the LIRR between Floral Park and Hicksville, that will allow for added train service, reverse-commutability and delay mitigation.

 

Crews from Halmar International, Inc. worked around the clock starting Friday, Oct. 20 using a unique construction method with a remote controlled lifting device. That transporter lifted the 103-year-old bridge, which remained intact, after it was cut away from its connection to the abutments, and placed into an adjacent parking lot. Then, the new bridge -- which had been constructed in the adjacent parking lot -- was lifted, in its entirety, and put into place over the roadway. The contractor then had to modify the abutments to support the new bridge height.

 

To allow for this work, LIRR customers using stations between Mineola and Hicksville were accommodated by buses as the work necessitated a Main Line track outage starting at 11:59 p.m. Friday until the first eastbound train rode through early Monday morning.

 

Nowakowski thanked the project management team, Halmar International’s team, along with LIRR crews that stepped up to do a substantial amount of work to keep the project within its allotted time frame.

 

Nowakowski called the project, along the Main Line at a critical location, a “great service improvement for our riders.”

 

 

 



#3 CNJRoss

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Posted 25 October 2017 - 11:01 AM

MTAInfo 10/23/16:

 

MTA Video Release: LIRR Post Avenue Bridge Replacement - 10/22/2017

 






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