State completes LIE bridge, sidewalk project in Melville

A bridge carrying Walt Whitman Road over the Long Island Expressway in Melville is now two lanes wider thanks to $28.2 million in construction recently completed by New York State.

The yearslong project replaced an overpass built in 1962 that was not designed to carry the 164,000 vehicles that cross it each day, according to a news release from Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's office.

The replacement bridge has five lanes instead of three. Workers also widened the intersections at either end and installed new sidewalks and pedestrian crossing signals.

"By investing in our infrastructure, we are creating a more sustainable transportation system that eases travel while also expanding economic opportunities for New Yorkers," Cuomo said in a statement.

Huntington Town Supervisor Chad Lupinacci in a statement called the project "a critical infrastructure improvement that will now support increased traffic flow and safety in the Melville commercial corridor."

The state also recently completed $14.4 million in construction on other bridges in Suffolk County, including stretches of the Long Island Expressway and Route 25 in the Town of Riverhead and the Lincoln Avenue Bridge in the Town of Islip.

A 2016 study by the New York State Comptroller's office found that many Long Island bridges are functionally obsolete but relatively few are structurally deficient.

Structurally deficient bridges are not "inherently unsafe," but require substantial rehabilitation or replacement, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers. Functionally obsolete bridges are those that were not designed to the latest standards or for present-day traffic levels.

Sixty-two percent of Long Island's 687 road bridges were functionally obsolete but less than 3% were structurally deficient, according to the comptroller's report. The average bridge in Suffolk County was 50 years old, while Nassau bridges on average were 59 years old.