Serving New Hyde Park, Floral Park, Garden City Park, North Hills, Manhasset Hills and North New Hyde Park
$1
Friday, August 23, 2019
Vol. 68, No. 34
N E W H Y D E PA R K
BACK TO SCHOOL
COMPLAINT FILED AGAINST TERRY
TOWN HIGHWAY SUPERVISOR RESIGNS
PAGES 27-36
PAGE 12
PAGE 6
New South Tyson Ave. bridge rolls in F.P. mayor says LIRR installation went ‘smoothly’ BY TOM MCCARTHY
PHOTO COURTESY OF LIZ GUTIERREZ
LIRR President Phillip Eng, pictured pointing, visited the South Tyson Ave. bridge worksite over the weekend.
The work on the South Tyson Avenue bridge is complete. Over the weekend, construction teams lifted and rolled the new two-track bridge 13 feet into place in the Village of Floral Park. “We’re going to see a transformation in the Long Island Rail Road’s ability to serve the public in the future,” Phillip Eng, president of the LIRR, said. “It just shows that we can get things done.” MTA spokeswoman Liz Gutierrez confirmed Monday morning that the South Tyson bridge expansion was completed over the weekend. “The bridge, in service
since 1958, is being modified. The new bridge will address a bottleneck at this section of the LIRR’s Main Line – where four tracks merge into two – and accommodate a future third track to increase capacity and improve service reliability,” she said. Gutierrez said the new third track will originate from the Hempstead Branch, then merge with the Main Line east of South Tyson Avenue to accommodate a future increase in capacity on the Main Line. The work for the bridge’s “roll in” started Friday at 10 p.m., and lasted until 6 a.m. Monday. During this time the LIRR Expansion Project team rolled the recently constructed new bridge into place. South
Tyson Avenue, between Tyson Avenue and Atlantic Avenue, was closed for the entirety of the weekend’s work. Eng said the completion of the project was “another proud day for the Long Island Rail Road and the industry.” Thomas McGuinness, deputy project manager for the LIRR’s expansion project, said in an interview on the site Saturday, “It’s like playing chess. You’re always thinking of the next four operations that have to take place and thinking what can go wrong.” McGuinness said the bridge was the main focus of the weekend as the Hempstead branch had to be open in time for the morning rush Continued on Page 51
NHP prepares for Covert Ave. bridge push BY TOM M CC A RT HY Long Island Rail Road and 3rd Track Constructors crews will be installing a new LIRR
bridge and underpass tunnel at Covert Avenue in New Hyde Park this weekend. To prepare for and execute the “push” of the new bridge,
there will be no train service between New Hyde Park and Hicksville in both directions starting in the late evening on Friday through early Monday morning. As a consequence of the work, Covert Avenue has been closed since April 15. New Hyde Park is continuing to voice its concerns over
road closures and traffic regulation. “3TC is not very happy with New Hyde Park particularly and I know it’s mutual,” Mayor Lawrence Montreuil said at an Aug. 15 village board meeting. Crews have been building the new train bridge and tunnel structure adjacent to the tracks in preparation for the installa-
tion, when the bridge will be moved into position. The existing Covert Avenue grade crossing will be eliminated and reconstructed to provide a two-lane grade-separated underpass with a pedestrian sidewalk on the east side of the underpass. Montreuil said in a letter to residents and at the meeting that Continued on Page 51
For the latest news visit us at www.theislandnow.com D on’t forget to follow us on Twitter @Theislandnow and Facebook at facebo ok.com/theislandnow