New York State is investing $70.4 million in bridge construction projects on Long Island.
Construction will start on a $28.2 million project to replace the Walt Whitman Road Bridge over the Long Island Expressway (Interstate 495) in the town of Huntington, Suffolk County.
In addition to the major bridge replacement, $42.2 million in repairs have been made on 31 bridges in Nassau and Suffolk counties.
The overpass carrying Walt Whitman Rd. over the Long Island Expressway is being replaced with a wider bridge to better accommodate Suffolk County’s growing population. The current bridge, built in 1962, sits less than two miles from the Nassau-Suffolk border in the commercial center of Melville, the headquarters of numerous national and international companies.
The new, wider structure will feature five lanes: two southbound lanes, one northbound lane, one northbound left-turn lane and an additional lane to provide space for a southbound left-turn lane at one end of the bridge and an extra northbound left-turn lane at the other end of the bridge.
Sidewalks will be installed for pedestrians on both sides of the highway, with shoulders for bicycling on each side. Intersections at each end of the bridge will be widened as part of the project to allow more efficient traffic flow.
Construction will be staged. A portion of the new bridge will be built on the east side while traffic is maintained on the existing bridge. Traffic will then shift onto the new bridge portion, while the existing bridge is demolished and the west side of the bridge is constructed.
