The grade crossing was closed to vehicular traffic and pedestrians on Feb. 3. Over the past several months, crews installed soldier piles, excavated soil to depress the roadway under the tracks, and built the new 3,350-ton railroad bridge and tunnel structure on the south side of the tracks.   

During a double-track outage from July 11-12, MTA Construction & Development, MTA Long Island Rail Road and design-build contractor 3TC removed the existing rail infrastructure to allow for excavation which was followed by the installation of the new 75-foot, three-bay bridge. The innovative bridge installation methods on this design build project using hydraulics to push the bridge in place over a single weekend, first used for the Urban Avenue grade separation, was the first such use in North America.  It was the second major milestone in two weeks for the LIRR Expansion Project following the roll-in of the LIRR's Glen Cove Road Bridge, 3.4 miles to the east in Carle Place. 

Last summer, crews installed bridges to replace previous at-grade railroad crossings at Covert Avenue, four tenths of a mile to the west in New Hyde Park, and Urban Avenue, 6.4 miles to the east in New Cassel. Work is now underway to replace the railroad crossing at School Street, on the border of Westbury and New Cassel.  

LIRR Expansion Project from Floral Park to Hicksville   

The LIRR Expansion Project will add a third track from Floral Park to Hicksville, reducing train congestion and delays and enabling true bi-directional service during peak hours. This transformative work includes several related projects, including the construction of additional parking garages and improved station access, retaining and sound attenuation walls, improvements to rail bridges and the removal of the eight street-level railroad crossings in the corridor. Construction is being handled in a way to minimize the impact on daily routines, with extensive mitigation and public outreach efforts to local communities.  

Recent project milestones include: