New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), serving 12 counties in Downstate New York, recently unveiled a new overpass in Garden City that will carry the Long Island Rail Road’s (LIRR) Hempstead Branch over Cherry Valley Avenue.
The project involved raising the bridge 36 inches to reduce strikes by over-height trucks and rebuilding the railroad crossing east of Cherry Valley Avenue.
The new bridge has a clearance of 14 feet 5 inches and replaces a bridge built in 1871 with a clearance of 10 feet 4 inches.
The old bridge was struck more frequently than other LIRR bridges. Between 2010 and 2022, the bridge was struck 162 times by vehicles.
“Raising this bridge is yet another investment that the MTA is making to ensure that Long Islanders have a safe, modern, reliable, and resilient form of transit,” MTA Construction & Development President Jamie Torres-Springer said. “…innovative projects like this demonstrate the MTA’s ability to deliver key upgrades to core infrastructure while minimizing impacts for riders.”
The project is part of a $17.7 billion investment to transform and modernize LIRR.
MTA has raised the heights of seven bridges in Nassau County since 2018 as part of the LIRR Main Line Expansion Project.