Long Island Rail Road crews will be hard at work on Friday night, October 5, through Tuesday morning, October 9, to replace the Buckram Road Bridge in Locust Valley, which carries the railroad’s Oyster Bay Branch over Buckram Road/Oyster Bay Road between the Locust Valley and Oyster Bay stations. The project will improve train service by raising the bridge clearance by nearly four feet to reduce the number of over-height trucks that strike the bridge, and enhance public safety by improving roadway sight-lines.

 

The existing bridge, which was built in 1889, has a clearance of 10 feet, 1 inch, and was struck by five over-height trucks in 2017. The railroad responds to such truck strikes by mobilizing a team of personnel to inspect the bridge and placing temporary speed restrictions on trains traveling over it, which can delay train service. The new bridge will have a clearance of 14 feet, in line with New York State Department of Transportation design standards.

 

“This project is an important component of our efforts to improve safety and on-time-performance and reduce train delays, because raising the height of bridges is a proven way to reduce truck strikes that delay trains,” said LIRR President Phillip Eng. “Since we replaced the Post Avenue Bridge in Westbury last October, not a single overheight truck has struck that bridge. We are expecting the same result here. Fewer truck strikes means fewer train delays and better on-time-performance for our customers.”

 

The project is one component of an unprecedented investment by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo that is allowing the LIRR to undergo a $6.6 billion modernization to increase reliability, expand capacity, upgrade infrastructure and improve the customer experience. Learn more about 100+ projects associated with the investment at aModernLI.com. For more information specifically about the Buckram Road Bridge replacement project, please click on this link: http://www.amodernli.com/project/buckram-road-bridge-replacement/

 

The new bridge has been built off site. On October 5-9, crews will decommission and remove the old bridge and move the new one into position and affix it into place. As a result of the work, buses will substitute for Oyster Bay Branch train service between approximately 9 p.m. on Friday, October 5, until approximately 2 a.m. on Monday, October 8. Train service will resume with the first scheduled train of the day on Monday, October 8, although buses will continue to substitute for train service between Oyster Bay and Locust Valley stations through 2 a.m. on Tuesday, October 9. Full train service will resume at 2 a.m. on Tuesday, October 9. 

 

Schedules detailing alternate bus service and train connections are available at this link:

 

 

 

Starting on Friday evening with the train that normally departs Jamaica at 9:07 p.m., and continuing through Sunday with the train that normally departs Jamaica at 11:47 p.m., customers seeking to travel to all Oyster Bay Branch stations will be able to board alternate, regularly scheduled trains at Jamaica for connection at Mineola to express buses that will travel from Mineola to specific stations as indicated by posted signs. The LIRR will position customer ambassadors at Mineola to assist customers who may have questions. Customers should expect up to 32 minutes of additional travel time.

 

For customers seeking travel between intermediate stations, local buses will travel the entire length of the branch from East Williston to Oyster Bay, making all local stops.

 

 

Starting on Friday evening with the train that normally originates at Oyster Bay at 11:16 p.m., and continuing through Sunday evening with the train that normally originates at Oyster Bay at 10:19 p.m., customers seeking to travel from all Oyster Bay Branch stations will find clearly marked express and local buses that will substitute for train service.

 

The express buses will travel to Mineola for connections to regularly scheduled Port Jefferson Branch or Ronkonkoma Branch trains for service toward New York City. The local buses will serve all stations on the branch to East Williston, and will not connect with train service.  To ensure train connections at Mineola, buses will depart up to 27 minutes earlier than normal train departure times.

 

 

Oyster Bay Branch trains will operate on normal schedules on Monday except at Oyster Bay, where buses will substitute for trains.

 

 

Customers seeking to travel to Oyster Bay will be able to connect at Locust Valley for buses to Oyster Bay. Customers should expect an additional 14 minutes of travel time.

 

 

Customers seeking to travel from Oyster Bay will find buses that will travel to Locust Valley to connect with regularly scheduled train service. To ensure the connection to trains at Locust Valley, buses will depart from Oyster Bay up to 15 minutes earlier than normal.

 

 

In preparation for the project, Buckram Road and Oyster Bay Road will be closed (except for local residents) starting at 6 a.m. on Wednesday, October 3. The roadway will reopen at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, October 9.  Vehicles will be detoured to Piping Rock Road and Duck Pond Road. There will be no access underneath the bridge for the duration of this project.

 

LIRR staff have been in the area since Monday, September 17, visiting residents and businesses to answer any questions they may have about upcoming work. Through the duration of the project, the LIRR and the MTA Police Department will provide the necessary flagmen, detour signs and personnel to ensure safety.

 

 

Information about the service changes noted in this press release, and all planned service changes, is available through the LIRR’s real-time service information sources:

 

Email and text message service updates – Customers are urged to sign up to receive the alerts by visiting MyMTAAlerts.com. To avoid unwanted messages, a user can tailor the messages to the specific branch, and the specific times of day.

 

MYmta app – Customers who use the new, comprehensive MYmta app will see real-time travel information for LIRR and connecting services all in one place. As a caution, trains that start out their trips on time may experience delays en route. The LIRR Train Time app also remains available for customers to access LIRR train information.

MTA.info – The rail tab of the “Service Status” box at the left side of www.MTA.infois always the definitive source for the latest status for each branch, updated every minute. In addition, customers can visit www.mta.info/lirrto see special service notices in the upper center of the page.

 

@LIRR on Twitter – Twitter users can follow @LIRR to receive updates of a similar nature to the email and text alerts, shortened to fit Twitter’s format.

 

The above communications channels can be accessed while at home or on the go. For customers who are located at stations, the LIRR will post the latest service updates on digital signs at station platforms and will make audio announcements over public address systems, and on-board announcements made by train crews.

 

For those who prefer the telephone, information is available from the LIRR’s Customer Service Center by calling 511, the New York State Travel Information Line, and saying: “Long Island Rail Road” Those who are deaf or hard of hearing can use their preferred service provider for the free 711 relay to reach the LIRR at 511.