Giant Flushing Bridge To Be Reconstructed

Preliminary Plans Announced For Whitestone Exp. Repairs
Bridge reconstruction work will be done in four stages, beginning in summer, 2002. During the following 36 months, three lanes of the Astoria Blvd. approach and two lanes of the northbound Van Wyck Exp. traffic will be maintained at all times.
Construction of a new Linden Pl. exit ramp for Astoria Blvd./Grand Central Pkway traffic, will eliminate high-accident conflicts with merging northbound Van Wyck traffic.
The 64-year-old bridge is a key highway access that has been taking a battering from rising vehicular volumes in northeast Queens.
According to figures released by the City Transportation Department (NYCDOT), the aging Flushing River Bridge has a higher traffic volume than 12 of the 20 bridges and tunnels that feed vehicles into Manhattan. More vehicles use this bridge, for example, than either the Queens-Midtown or Brooklyn-Battery Tunnels.
The spaghetti-shaped juncture provides critical links between the busy Grand Central Pkwy., and the Whitestone and Van Wyck Expressways, as well as Northern and Astoria Blvds. The bridge also accommodates commuters heading for the Long Island and Brooklyn-Queens Exps, the Cross Island and Belt Parkway systems, and surrounding borough bridges and airports.
NYSDOT officials also announced that adjacent property belonging to Anthony Grace, Consolidated Edison, and College Associates would be appropriated by New York State to facilitate bridge construction.
The 3-year project is scheduled to begin in summer, 2002.
Also slated to start next summer is the $30 million overhaul of the entire length of the Whitestone Exp. The 21-month project will address the highways resurfacing, drainage, lighting, landscaping, signage, safety barriers, and noise wall.
Local civic groups in Malba, College Point, Flushing and Whitestone have already prepared "shopping lists" of proposed traffic additions, changes and modifications for the highways reconstruction.
Community Board 7 has requested significant changes in the design of Linden Pl., a new exit ramp, and for the NYCDOT to install computerized signals on key roadways near the project.
Charles Kyriakoudes, president of the Malba Civic Association, has requested that the Whitestone Exp.s 14th Ave. exit ramp be reconstructed in compliance with Federal urban highway safety standards.