WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES NOVEMBER 16, 2017 21
Grand
Street
Bridge to
remain
closed for
urgent
repairs
BY ANTHONY GIUDICE
AGIUDICE@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@A_GIUDICEREPORT
File photo/Ridgewood Times
The Grand Street Bridge will
remain closed this entire
week for urgent repairs.
Everyone looking to go from
Maspeth to Brooklyn over
the Grand Street Bridge
this week will need to fi nd another
route, as the New York City
Department of Transportation
(DOT) Division of Bridges has
extended the bridge’s full closure
for urgent repairs.
According to a notice sent out
by DOT, the Grand Street Bridge,
which takes motorists over the
Newtown Creek, will remain
closed to vehicular, pedestrian
and bicycle traffi c until Monday,
Nov. 20, as they continue to repair
the 114-year-old bridge.
The full closure of the bridge
began on Nov. 9 and was expected
to remain closed until Nov. 13.
However, the completion date
has now been pushed back until
Nov. 20.
DOT recommends drivers and
cyclists detour to Metropolitan
Avenue to pass over Newtown
Creek. Variable message sings
will be posted to alert motorists
of the changes.
Fresh Pond Railyard to gets
new freight locomotive
BY ANTHONY GIUDICE
AGIUDICE@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@A_GIUDICEREPORT
A new, low-emission locomotive
will be coming to the Fresh
Pond Railyard in Glendale
thanks to the Locomotive Repower
Project, which aims to redesign and
repower conventional freight locomotives
with state-of-the-art low-emissions
diesel technologies.
This project is a partnership between
the city Department of Sanitation
(DSNY), New York & Atlantic Railway
(NYA) and Waste Management of New
York, and is being made possible with
grant funding from the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) through
the National Clean Diesel Funding Assistance
Program, as authorized by the
Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA).
The Locomotive Repower Project
will replace a single pre-1973
1,200-horsepower switch locomotive at
the Fresh Pond Rail Yard with a mother
slug confi guration. A mother-slug
locomotive is a two-part locomotive,
one part having a diesel engine and
traction motors, and the other with
only traction motors.
The advantage of having a mother
slug locomotive will allow the
locomotive to apply more power to the
rails in order to start the train from
a stop and move it along the tracks,
A KLW Tier 4 locomotive in use in Texas.
creating a more effi cient method of
moving train cars.
According to Waste Management,
this repowered locomotive will
meet the new, more stringent Tier
4 emission standards set by the
U.S. EPA. The conversion will save
an estimated 18,000 gallons of fuel
per year, and is estimated to reduce
emissions by 9.75 tons of nitrogen
oxides and 0.22 tons of particulate
matter annually.
Photo courtesy of Waste Management
From a greenhouse gas perspective,
Waste Management said, the project
will avoid the release of 230 tons of
carbon dioxide on an annual basis.
This repowered locomotive will be
stationed at the Fresh Pond Railyard and
will serve approximately 20 local businesses
including Waste Management’s
Varick Avenue truck-to-rail waste
transfer station in Williamsburg and
the Review Avenue truck-to-rail waste
transfer station in Long Island City.
Students of the Month honored in Woodhaven
Photo courtesy of Assemblyman Mike Miller’s offi ce
Assemblyman Mike Miller presented the New York State Assembly Certifi cate of Merit awards to the P.S. 97
Forest Park School Student of the Month recipients.
