All Not Aboard Railroad Bridge Replacement Detour Plan Through Hampton Bays, Set To Start in 2025

The planned replacement of a railroad bridge in Hampton Bays could close busy Montauk Highway to traffic from Ponquogue Avenue to Canoe Place Road — for a full eight to 10 months — and potentially push traffic onto an early iteration of a detour using a nearby residential street.

The two-year project, revealed during a discussion of other major road projects in the region, is slated to start in 2025, just as work on North Sea Road is underway and before work on County Road 39 begins.

Originally scheduled to begin next fall, the installation of sidewalks on both sides of County Road 39 from Tuckahoe Road to Boathouse Road, another two-year project, met with adamant opposition from community members and Southampton Town officials, and was postponed until 2027. The North Sea Road project was set to begin in fall 2024, and last through spring 2026, according to a timeline provided to town officials by the Suffolk County Department of Public Works.

News of the railroad bridge replacement surfaced during the Suffolk County Department of Public Works informational meeting on the County Road 39 sidewalk project. Town Engineer Thomas Houghton asked if the project will overlap with the replacement of the railroad bridge. Beyond assuring there would be no overlap, county officials declined to describe what the railroad project would entail.

Houghton was able to shed light on the project this week.

While the town had not been brought into discussions of the other two projects, earlier this year, the county’s Council on Environmental Quality — an appointed group tasked with advising county officials on compliance with state environmental law — voted to require county officials to liaison with town counterparts.

The Suffolk County Department of Public Works is required to coordinate with the Town of Southampton in the development of a project traffic mitigation plan, the CEQ resolved. A February 8 presentation of the railroad bridge project included testimony from the town engineer.

The project entails replacing the existing Hampton Bays overpass along Montauk Highway with a new three-sided precast concrete bridge arch structure with a 50-foot span over the LIRR tracks. The road will be reestablished over the concrete bridge arch structure, according to CEQ minutes.

The proposed new bridge will increase the width of the sidewalk on the south side of the road from 4 feet to the 5-foot minimum standard, and will increase the vertical clearance over the LIRR tracks from 16 feet 8 inches to 18 feet.

“The existing bridge framing does not allow for staged demolition, resulting in a need for a detour around the CR 80 project site during demolition and replacement,” according to CEQ minutes.

Approximately eight months of initial work and substructure construction will take place prior to bridge demolition to reduce the overall detour duration, the minutes note.

The detour, using Ponquogue Avenue to Fanning Avenue and Canoe Place Road, is expected to last eight to 10 months, “with the goal of avoiding impacts during the busier summer months,” the minutes reveal. Full closure of Montauk Highway will be limited to the project site, with local traffic able to utilize the adjacent intersections with Old Riverhead Road and Gravel Hill Road.

Following the presentation, CEQ members discussed the potential impacts. They agreed it is “particularly important to carefully consider how the traffic detour is designed and implemented,” the meeting minutes state.

It was mentioned that the Long Island Rail Road, which owns the overpass jointly with Suffolk County, requested a design that could allow for a second track. Asked to weigh in as to whether the railroad is looking to develop a second track or a siding this week, MTA spokesman David Steckel replied with a statement via email: “Whenever there are infrastructure projects near a railroad right-of-way, the LIRR always looks to maintain any options for future expansion.”

Discussion of the replacement of the bridge dates back to before the COVID-19 pandemic, Houghton recalled. He was approached with conceptual plans, but when the pandemic struck, “the whole thing died,” the engineer recalled.

After COVID, he said, “They got some money to do the projects. One project after another started rolling in.”

Town officials wanted to know how each project might affect the other.

“We really hope you’re not gonna shut down both of our roads at the same time,” Houghton recalled thinking. It wasn’t clear as to whether the projects would overlap.

“There just hasn’t been great communication,” he summarized.

“There are aspects of the project that can take place before the bridge is removed, but there’s no way that they’ve expressed to us that the bridge can remain in service while they’re working on it,” Houghton explained. “It’s not like they can just take down half the bridge and keep a lane open.”

When the plan, which languished during the pandemic shutdown, was resurrected, Houghton learned of the pending CEQ meeting. “That was my only opportunity to weigh in on the project,” he said.

The goal of attending the discussion was to offer comments on the detour plan. “It was pretty lacking. It was mostly out of touch — they hadn’t talked to the town about any of it. We just wanted a seat at the table,” Houghton said.

Overall, the engineer said the bridge project is “relatively straightforward. It’s reasonable — it’s not a drastic change to what’s there right now, “ Houghton said. “The detour is the only outlier.”

“We were well on our way to working toward that (a better detour plan) when County Road 39 popped up,” he said, speaking of news that county officials planned to embark on a $9.6 million improvement project that would shut down traffic lanes periodically for two years beginning this fall. Public outcry and opposition was adamant, and that project was “deferred” until 2027, according to a document sent to town officials in response to an array of questions Houghton posed.

Answers to questions he sent on another project — the installation of more sidewalks, plus repaving along North Sea Road from County Road 39 to Millstone Brook Road — are still pending, he reported this week.

That project, with a $16.5 million price tag, looms soonest. It’s slated to begin in the fall of 2024 and take two years to complete.

A March informational teleconference drew 70 attendees; many of them were opposed to the construction of sidewalks and their impact on North Sea’s rural character. The effect of curbing on parking at businesses along the artery was also a frequently expressed worry. So, too, was a proposed traffic light at North Sea-Mecox Road, just yards away from an existing signal. Repaving North Sea Road and improving drainage at Alewife Creek were aspects of the project most community members embraced.

Houghton said working with county officials and business owners on the North Sea Road project is a primary concern, since that’s the immediate project.

“The bridge, we all have to get back together and hash out the traffic plan,” he said.

“We have a pretty good working relationship with the county on everything else,” Houghton emphasized. “We’re here to talk with them, we want to be involved. We’d just like to weigh in on what’s affecting our neighborhoods.”

The engineer speculated that any project other than North Sea Road is “a guess.” The funding may change, it may not, he said.

For example, sidewalks were proposed on County Road 39 during its last upgrade years ago, but the funding was reallocated.

County officials did not respond to questions about the railroad bridge plan that were directed to be sent via email.