WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES JULY 19, 2018 15
DOT accepts proposals for Grand Street bridge
BY RYAN KELLEY
RKELLEY@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
TWITTER @R_KELLEY6
Aft er more than a century of carrying
cars over the Newtown
Creek — with plenty of traffi c
woes and emergency repairs along the
way — the Grand Street Bridge on the
Maspeth/Brooklyn border may fi nally
be on its way to a complete overhaul.
In June, the Department of Transportation
(DOT) released a request
for proposals (RFP) for the total demolition,
redesign and reconstruction
of the Grand Street bridge, and the
submission period closed on July 6.
According to the RFP, the DOT seeks
to replace the current structure with
a new bridge that has a new movable
span structure and new approaches.
“The existing bridge does not meet
current structural, seismic and geometric
design standard requirements,”
the document states. “Aft er over 113
years, the bridge has reached the end
of its service life.”
First opened in 1903, the current
bridge stretches 227 feet long, but is
barely wide enough to hold two lanes
of traffi c. The 19 feet, 7 inch width
actually forces cars to wait at the end
of the bridge if there is a bus or large
truck driving over it.
While the bridge was extremely
busy during its early years — opening
to allow shipping more than 5,000
times in 1918 alone — the RFP shows
that an opening of the bridge has not
been recorded since 2012.
Over the course of its life, the bridge
has deteriorated and has several
features that fail to meet the city’s current
standards. The mechanical and
electrical control systems are obsolete,
the fender system has degenerated
and many structural members aren’t
adequate to carry the bridge’s current
load, the RFP shows.
Whomever is awarded the contract
will have to provide a minimum service
life of 75 years for the new bridge,
improve the overall traffi c conditions,
improve the operational reliability of
the new movable bridge and protect
the electrical and mechanical systems
from damage from extreme storms or
fl ooding. Damage sustained at the current
structure from Superstorm Sandy
in 2012 is still being repaired today.
The total scope of work will be
funded by the U.S. Department of
Photo courtesy of BridgesNYC
Transportation Federal Highway
Administration, according to the RFP,
and the contract is expected to begin at
the end of June 2019 and last until 2026.
The reconstruction is sure to be a
welcomed event for the local community,
as numerous repairs have caused
traffi c nightmares in recent years and
Community Board 5 has been advocating
for its replacement for even longer.
The Grand St. bridge over the Newtown Creek connecting Maspeth to Brooklyn.
Detectives looking for driver behind a fatal
hit-and-run in Ridgewood that killed woman
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
EDAVENPORT@QNS.COM / @QNS
Cops are looking for the person
responsible for a hit-and-run
incident that took a senior
woman’s life in Ridgewood.
According to police, at 8:14 a.m.
on July 1, a 63-year-old woman was
attempting to cross the street in front
of 59-41 Myrtle Ave. when she was
struck by a silver, four-door sedan.
The vehicle, which was driving at a
high rate of speed, fl ed the location
following the incident.
Offi cers from the 104th Precinct
and EMS units rushed to the scene.
The woman, whose identity has
been withheld at this time, sustained
numerous injuries to her torso and
was transported to Wyckoff Heights
Medical Center initially in stable
condition. However, her condition
deteriorated in the days that followed,
and she ultimately died of her injuries
on July 16.
The vehicle is described as a silver
Nissan Sentra sedan with damage
to its driver-side doors and passenger
side rearview mirror.
Anyone with information in regards
to this incident is asked to call
the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline
at 800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish,
888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can
also submit their tips by logging onto
the Crime Stoppers website or by
texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES)
then enter TIP577. All calls and mesPhoto
courtesy of the NYPD sages are kept confi dential.
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