Plans for new $112M Smith Point Bridge project released

Suffolk's latest plan for a new Smith Point Bridge in Shirley to replace the aging span includes a fishing pier, pedestrian path and a $112 million price tag, according to county officials.

The plan calls for a high bridge just west of the current drawbridge in Shirley, which connects William Floyd Parkway to the popular Smith Point County Park. Construction of the bridge, the county’s largest infrastructure project other than sewer and wastewater systems, is expected to begin in 2024 and be completed in 2027, according to county Department of Public Works Commissioner Joseph Brown.

The current bridge, which travels over Narrow Bay, was opened in 1959 during a Fourth of July ceremony attended by then Long Island State Park Commissioner Robert Moses, according to news media reports from the time. The bridge was only expected to last about 40 years when built and the structure is now deteriorating, Brown said.

Bridge past its prime

“It's significantly past what they originally intended it to last,” Brown said in an interview. “It's also a drawbridge and drawbridges inherently have a lot more problems.”

Drawbridges are more costly and difficult to maintain because of their moving parts, he said. The new bridge will have a 55-foot clearance and be fixed in place, allowing boats to travel underneath.

The bridge leads to the five-mile-long Smith Point County Park which each year draws hundreds of thousands of beachgoers, campers and fishermen. The park also serves as the eastern entry to the Fire Island National Seashore, and is the site of a waterfront memorial for those who died in the crash of TWA Flight 800 in 1996.

Estimates for the project’s cost were at $75 million as recently as 2021 but have significantly increased due to rising construction prices and the addition of the 12-foot-wide pedestrian path, Brown said. The latest design also calls for a belvedere, or an overlook, off the pedestrian path.

“This project is not just the bridge,” said Legis. James Mazzarella (R-Moriches), whose district includes Shirley. “They're getting a fishing pier. They're getting a shared use path. They're getting observation areas on the bridge. It’s really an amenity and it's an added benefit.”

$90 million in federal funds

The project is expected to receive about $90 million in federal funding, according to the Suffolk County Legislature Budget Review Office's report on the 2023-25 capital budget.

The Smith Point Bridge is one of nine Long Island spans rated “poor” by the state Department of Transportation. A "poor" rating does not mean a bridge is unsafe or in danger of collapse, but it may need more frequent monitoring, maintenance and repair, postings for weight limits, or replacement in extreme cases of deterioration, according to the DOT.

The county had previously put a weight limit on the bridge due to its deficiencies.

The state DOT also recently gave the bridge a “red flag,” which Brown said means the county will have to discuss an action plan with the state. That could include strengthening pieces to keep the bridge’s lock in place, but those who traverse the bridge are not in immediate danger, he said. 

In a statement, DOT spokesman Stephen Canzoneri said the agency issued the red flag "after a routine inspection last fall revealed corrosion in a steel beam of the draw bridge. After a more detailed structural analysis by Suffolk County, which owns the bridge and is responsible for its maintenance, it was determined that the mechanism had not been compromised and the bridge remains safely open for travel."

The bridge plan does not include the preservation of the ends of the old bridge to be used for recreation, an idea local residents had pitched and called the Smith Point Twin Decks Legacy Project. Mastic Park Civic Association president Raymond Keenan was disappointed the landings would not be repurposed in a way he compared to New York City's elevated High Line park.

"We have a beautiful shorelines down there," he said. "Having a community event space on there would be an asset."

Brown said the twin decks would have been expensive to maintain and could increase the shadow cast over nearby wetlands.

The county will host an informational session on the project Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the William Floyd High School auditorium in Mastic Beach. Those who would like to attend can RSVP by emailing public.works@suffolkcounty.gov.

By Vera Chinese

vera.chinese@newsday.com@VeraChinese

Vera Chinese joined Newsday in 2017 after working as an editor for the East End lifestyle publication northforker and a general assignment reporter for the New York Daily News.