[Editors: Renderings of the future overpass are linked at bottom of this email.]

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) today announced that New Hyde Park Road in the Villages of New Hyde Park and Garden City will be temporarily closed beginning Monday, Feb. 3, between Plaza Avenue and Fourth Avenue as part of the MTA’s Long Island Rail Road Expansion Project. To accommodate the construction and allow for reconstruction of the adjacent station, LIRR customers using the adjacent platforms of the New Hyde Park LIRR station will shift to temporary platforms that have been built west of S. 12^th Street.

 

A new bridge to span this crossing is scheduled to be moved into place on July 11-12, and the newly built roadway below the bridge is expected to reopen this summer. This fast pace of work and the use of unique engineering methods limit the detours to just seven months. Funding for LIRR Expansion Project comes from the MTA’s 2015-19 Capital Program and the historic $51.5 billion 2020-24 Capital Program.

 

This railroad crossing is the third of eight such grade-crossing elimination projects being completed under the LIRR Expansion Project, also known as “Third Track,” set for completion in 2022. The grade crossing eliminations will enhance safety, reduce noise and air pollution and reduce traffic back-ups, as vehicles will no longer need to wait at crossings as trains pass, which can be as much as 42 percent of the time during rush hours. Stations along the Main Line between Floral Park and Hicksville are being rebuilt in order to accommodate a new third track.

 

Crews will replace the permanent platforms at New Hyde Park station to accommodate 12-car trains. The newly rebuilt station will include new amenities such as platform canopies, benches, shelters and renewed signage, CCTV security cameras to improve safety, ADA-compliant mobility improvements including ramps, Wi-Fi, USB charging stations, and digital information displays. The interior and exterior of the station building will be renovated. New bike racks will be installed, and a plaza with green space at Third Avenue east of Baer Place will be created. ADA-compliant pedestrian access will be maintained with an underpass at South 12th Street, upon the closure of the at-grade crossing to vehicular traffic. Completion of the pedestrian underpass is expected for the fall of 2021.

 

In consultation with municipal, county and state government partners, the MTA is rebuilding the railroad crossing at New Hyde Park Road as a five-lane grade separated underpass with sidewalks on both sides, including a left turn lane onto Clinch Road. The roadway project began with utility relocation in the spring of 2019. In September, crews began drilling soldier piles to shore up the excavation area and began working on site to build the LIRR bridge that will span the underpass.

 

Once the grade crossing is eliminated, trains will no longer need to blast their horns, and bells from crossing gates will become unnecessary, significantly reducing noise pollution in the surrounding area. Currently, crossing gates during rush hours are in the down position nearly half the time, creating traffic backups and increasing exhaust from vehicles.

 

As part of an unprecedentedly robust community outreach program, MTA, LIRR, and the designer-builder have held hundreds of meetings in advance of the closure. Most recently, the project team has hosted multiple public information sessions in addition to targeted stakeholder meetings with residents, school districts, chambers of commerce, civic associations, and more.

 

For more information about the New Hyde Park Road underpass construction, please visit this page: https://www.amodernli.com/project/new-hyde-park-road-grade-crossing-elimination/

 

For more information about the New Hyde Park station renewal and upgrades, please visit this page: https://www.amodernli.com/project/new-hyde-park-station-enhancement/

 

Detour routes have been established in cooperation with Nassau County, the Villages of New Hyde Park and Garden City, and other localities. As alternatives, the detours encourage the use Covert Avenue, which reopened last Oct. 12 after the MTA eliminated the grade crossing, and Nassau Blvd., where the MTA last Oct. 5-6 replaced the previous bridge with a low clearance of just 11’6” with a new bridge with a clearance of the bridge to 14’0”. Detour routes will be clearly marked by signage. For more information, including detour details and maps, visit: https://lirrexpansion.com/2020/01/16/new-hyde-park-road-closure-beginning-february-3rd/ 

 

The LIRR Expansion Project is part of a multibillion-dollar modernization of the Long Island Rail Road, the largest investment the railroad has received in decades. Once the work is complete, the LIRR will have increased its capacity by roughly 50%. Together, the upgrades will help transform transportation across the region and provide a reliable, state-of-the-art rail system for Long Islanders. For more information on the 100+ projects set to transform the LIRR, visit aModernLI.com.