(Newsday posted the following article by Jennifer Maloney on its website on June 20.)
NEW YORK — A Long Island Rail Road bridge in Long Island City was built to support three times the traffic it supports today, so it is safe to use despite the sinking of some of its wooden support posts, the LIRR said Tuesday.
The railroad today will ask the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board’s LIRR/Long Island Bus Committee to approve a $769,000 contract to design the rehabilitation of 10 bridges with structural problems, including the one in Long Island City.
Repairs on the remaining nine bridges have been delayed since 2001 because of a lack of construction funds, an LIRR document said. Two other bridges cited in the document are being repaired now and a third already has been fixed, the LIRR said.
On the Long Island City drawbridge, about 25 percent of the timber piles supporting the west abutment have settled and can no longer bear weight, according to the LIRR document that will be reviewed Wednesday by the LIRR/LI Bus Committee.
But officials said the bridge, including at the spot where the settling has occurred, remains safe; they noted that the structure was built to carry trains on three tracks and today has only one track.
“The LIRR inspects all of our bridges annually to ensure they are safe, and when necessary makes timely repairs,” the LIRR said Tuesday in a statement. “With the approval of the … contract we will complete bridge designs and begin construction services. In the interim, the bridges are safe to use.”
The railroad did not respond to a request for details on the condition of each bridge.
Scott Ashford, professor of geotechnical engineering at the University of California at San Diego who was read a portion of the railroad’s statement concerning the Long Island City bridge, said that the bridge likely can hold enough weight despite the sinking supports. “It sounds probably reasonable that they’re keeping it open,” he said.
Besides the Long Island City bridge, the contract would produce designs for two bridges in Oceanside on the Long Beach branch, and seven retaining walls and bridge abutments in Queens on the Port Washington branch, the LIRR said.
Two bridges in Queens on the Atlantic and main lines are being repaired under separate contracts. And a bridge in Massapequa Park on the Babylon Branch already has been fixed.