Great Neck Plaza’s Barstow Road bridge was once again deemed “structurally deficient,” according to a report last week from the American Road & Transportation Builders Association.
The designation covers bridges that “would require repairs or modifications to restore their condition or improve their functionality,” according to the association. The bridge, which is owned by the village, runs over the Great Neck train station on the Long Island Rail Road’s Port Washington line.
The bridge was not deemed “unsafe” by the association, which would require it to be shut down for repairs.
The bridge was one of five on Long Island listed as “structurally deficient.” Marc Herbst, executive director of the Long Island Contractors’ Association, told Long Island Business News that the bridges should be fixed to meet updated standards.
“It’s good news that it’s only five and structurally deficient doesn’t mean they’re in imminent danger,” Herbst told Long Island Business News. “They don’t meet capacity and they’re not built to today’s environmental requirements.”
Efforts to reach Herbst for further comment were unavailing.
The Barstow Road bridge, which was constructed in 1935 and last inspected by the Transportation Department in September 2020, has been deemed “structurally deficient” for the past four years. In 2018, Great Neck Plaza Clerk-Treasurer Patricia O’Byrne mentioned a New York state bridge program grant could provide 95 percent of the funds to repair the bridge.
On Tuesday, O’Byrne told Blank Slate Media that Mayor Ted Rosen, along with other village officials, met with engineers from the Long Island Rail Road two weeks ago to discuss the condition of the bridge.
O’Byrne said the engineers informed the village there were no structural issues with the bridge and that the village is considering repairing or replacing the sidewalks on both sides of the bridge. O’Byrne said that a tentative project could take place this fall or sometime next year.
According to state data, five of the Great Neck peninsula’s nine villages do not have bridges within their borders, and only Thomaston and Great Neck Plaza own any of their bridges.
Lake Success is the only village with more bridges than Great Neck Plaza on the peninsula, having four of them, but they are all owned by the New York State Department of Transportation.
