(The following story by Steve Ritea appeared on the Newsday website on February 8.)
NEW YORK — The latest version of the Long Island Rail Road’s plan to construct a third track along 10 miles of its main line could impact up to four grade crossings and 91 properties in New Hyde Park and Westbury, according to preliminary plans submitted to the Federal Transit Administration.
A second option in the plan would affect only two grade crossings and 82 properties in those areas, the LIRR said.
LIRR officials refused to release the plan, which identifies properties that could be impacted, referring requests to the transit administration. A Federal Transit Administration spokesman said the agency was unable to release a copy yesterday.
An earlier proposal last year called for a third track along 11 1/2 miles between Hicksville and Queens Village that would have affected more than 100 properties. Now, the third track would end in Floral Park.
LIRR spokesman Joe Calderone said that proposal was scaled back because of concerns – many from residents – about property being taken for the third track or otherwise affected by it.
Railroad President Helena Williams has said a third track can provide a “passing lane” for express trains and around disabled trains. It also will help with additional capacity once the LIRR begins running trains into Grand Central Terminal, which is expected by 2014.
Both options call for eliminating a grade crossing at New Hyde Park Road in New Hyde Park and reconstructing the roadway there so it runs beneath the tracks. A third track would increase rail traffic, multiplying congestion along that roadway – which carries almost 20,000 vehicles per day – when traffic stops for railroad crossings, the LIRR said.
Both options also call for closing Urban Avenue in Westbury to vehicular traffic where it intersects with the LIRR tracks. Cars and trucks would be diverted across a bridge built from Bond Street, south of the tracks, to connect with Railroad Avenue, just to the northwest. A separate footbridge would be built over the tracks at Urban Avenue, the LIRR said.
The option impacting 91 properties, including 38 residential properties, would require reconstruction of Covert Avenue in New Hyde Park below the railroad tracks. It also would close South 12th Street in New Hyde Park to vehicular traffic, with a footbridge built over the tracks there. The option that impacts 82 properties – 31 of them residential – would leave Covert Avenue and South 12th Street open, with more crossing arms.