Grand Street Bridge is finally getting renovated

QNS


The Grand Street Bridge on the Maspeth/Brooklyn border could be getting a contractor for a rebuild 16 years in the making.

Community Board 5 District Manager Gary Giordano said the advisory board received an email notification on Jan. 22 that followed up to a request for proposals (RFP) put out in June looking for bids.

“It’s a very, very important project that we shall not give up on,” Giordano said. “It is an example of how cooperative one can be that people can stop and let another vehicle go by. I wish other drivers on other roads and bridges were as considerate these drivers are. We need more consideration on our roads and bridges.”

The Grand Street Bridge was originally built in 1903 and 227 feet across, but at a 19 foot, 7 inch width, cars and trucks generally need wait for other vehicles already making the crossing to pass before taking the road despite it being two lanes.

Grand Street Bridge just can't get fixed

From the Queens Courier:

The plans to replace a ramshackle bridge over a toxic creek won’t be drawn up until 2016, officials said.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) plan for reconstruction of a 100-year-old bridge that connects Brooklyn and Queens won’t enter the planning phase for two more years, according to a DOT spokesman.

The Grand Street Bridge spans the Newtown Creek — a federal Superfund site—and connects Gardner Avenue in Brooklyn and 47th street in Queens.

Built in 1903, the narrow bridge is a nominally two-way road that has required constant maintenance over the years. A reconstruction of the bridge would widen the bridge and also reinforce it to better withstand the weight of modern cars. Locals were skeptical.

“We’ve been through a design phase before. A lot of projects have been stalled for too long. And this project has been stalled for too long,” said Gary Giordano, district manager in Community Board 5, expressing skepticism about the department’s plans for reconstruction. He noted that the bridge on the Queens side is in Maspeth where there are many industrial manufacturing businesses.

And with the businesses comes a high volume of truck traffic that use the bridge everyday.

The DOT promised to maintain the bridge while the agency plans to plan.

Transportation projects delayed

From the Queens Courier:

Ridgewood residents were hopeful that reconstruction of the Metropolitan Avenue Bridge would finally start this spring, but it’s been delayed again.

The path, which is elevated over LIRR tracks where Metropolitan Avenue intersects Fresh Pond Road, carries major truck traffic and is long overdue for repairs. In 2007, city officials informed Community Board (CB) 5 it was in danger of collapse.

Financial troubles delayed its original reconstruction start date back in 2009, and at a recent CB 5 Transportation Committee meeting, it was said that it’s been pushed back yet again, because the project has to undergo review and redesign.

Developers are now considering building an abutment, eliminating one track under the bridge, to help the building process.

There is also the Grand Street Bridge project, which connects Maspeth to Brooklyn over Newtown Creek.

The 111-year-old bridge is so narrow that it can’t support two-way traffic, although it is a two-way span, with all the big rigs and city buses that traverse it. The new bridge would cost about $50 million.

The plan for a new bridge was ready to go when Sandy struck in 2012 and flooded the area. Now plans are being redesigned to meet new flood regulations.

Besides the bridges, major street rebuilding plans have also been set back.

Grand Street Bridge getting fixed

CityNoise has a great set of photos showing the Grand Street Bridge being repaired.