Repairs to Hell Gate Bridge underway

Work on the Hell Gate Bridge is underway, and Amtrak officials expect repairs to be finished in about a year.
The project, originally estimated at $3 million, will cost $10 million to complete, including repairs to the faces of the archway and replacement of drainage lines, a spokesperson from the railroad company confirmed.
Amtrak had given notice to proceed to the contractor on March 25, and by April 1, workers had begun planning the work, said Cliff Cole of the company’s media relations department.
“For too long this trestle, a landmark of our community has been a sorry eyesore. I hope Amtrak restores it to something we can again be proud of,” Councilmember Peter Vallone, Jr. said in a statement.
Vallone said that state of disrepair of the bridge caused dangerous conditions by leaking water and shedding debris. A member of Vallone’s staff had fallen and broken a bone after slipping on ice that formed in an alleyway, nearby to the elevated bridge - on 31st Street between 23rd Avenue and Ditmars Boulevard. In addition, several cars parked nearby to the bridge had been damaged by falling objects, Vallone said,
Amtrak officials said that Vallone facilitated meetings with city officials to ensure that the alleyway - located within a block of Vallone’s office - would be monitored, and officials are investigating whether leaked water could be drained into city pipes.
Amtrak’s scaffolding, left standing for the past year, has been a source of contention among the community. The equipment takes away several parking places in an already-crowded street, local residents said, and homeless people loiter under the shelter it created.
“I would like to see them [Amtrak] finish the job and leave,” said Community Board 1 District Manager George Delis. “They are taking up parking spaces, and it’s an eyesore.”
Delis estimated that about 10 spots are lost due to construction near Ditmars Boulevard and 19th Avenue. In addition, he spotted concrete falling from the bridge nearby to 35th Street and 23rd Avenue.
“It’s ongoing maintenance with these bridges,” Delis said, recounting the Hell Gate’s storied history as longest steel-arch bridge in the world when it opened in 1916. Currently, the trestle, which connects western Queens with Ward’s and Randall’s Islands, is the 17th longest.
“Astoria is a beautiful neighborhood, and we must take good care of its infrastructure,” Vallone said in his statement. “This bridge should be a neighborhood gem, not a crumbling piece of stone.”
Vallone has also called on federal politicians to provide funding for the Hell Gate to be repainted - the last coating was finished in 1996 after then Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan lobbied to have the bridge refurbished.
Delis agreed that a paint job is in order, saying that in spots the Hell Gate displays purple and pink hues.
However, when Moynihan helped to secure $55 million from Congress for the renovations, a special color, “Hell Gate Red,” had been created for the bridge, according to the Greater Astoria Historical Society.