Aging Span To Shut On Four Straight Saturdays
The Grand Street Bridge on the Brooklyn/Queens border is set to be closed on four consecutive Saturdays beginning this weekend for maintenance, it was announced.
According to information provided to Community Board 5 by the city Department of Transportation (DOT), the first of the four closures will take place this Saturday, Apr. 13, from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. The bridge will again be shut down during the same time period on the following three Saturdays, Apr. 20, Apr. 27 and May 4.
Reportedly, crews will “perform maintenance and structural repairs” on the 100-year-old span, which crosses the Newtown Creek and connects Grand Avenue in Maspeth with Grand Street in East Williamsburg.
In recent weeks, the green, swingspan bridge-which turns at a 90-degree angle to allow boats to pass through-has been closed periodcally by the DOT for similar maintenance.
As previously reported in the Times Newsweekly, the crossing was shut down at the last minute on Mar. 15 to allow workers to repair a roadway plate. Numerous other closures- generally for several hours on a Saturday-were required in recent months for the DOT to perform maintenance including repairs to deck gratings, roadway lighting and movable parts.
Board 5 and business advocates in the area have called for the full replacement of the two-lane Grand Street Bridge, which-at a width of just over 53 feet-makes it impossible for large trucks and buses traveling in the opposite direction to cross the bridge simultaneously.
As recently as 2008, the DOT had launched a “preliminary design” for the project, which was estimated to cost around $66 million. However, Board 5’s Transportation and Public Transit committees learned at their Mar. 26 meeting the design has been halted, and the project delayed until at least the city’s 2020 fiscal year.
