NEW YORK – The Metropolitan Transportation Authority replaced the first section of the 130-year-old Park Avenue Viaduct in Manhattan without disrupting Metro-North service over the weekend, the transit agency said yesterday.
The Park Avenue Viaduct carries four Metro-North Railroad tracks and serves all Metro-North trains traveling into and out of Grand Central Terminal, totaling 750 trains every weekday.
This past weekend’s operation utilized two gantry systems which extend over the viaduct to remove and replace the existing concrete and steel bridge deck with new prefabricated bridge units, weighing around 190,000 pounds each.
“The seamless replacement of the first segment of the Park Avenue Viaduct is a great example of the innovative approach we take to delivering critical projects better, faster, and cheaper,” MTA Construction & Development President Jamie Torres-Springer said in a statement. “Innovation, along with strong project management, will help us to deliver this mega project on time and on budget with little to no impacts to service.”
“All Metro-North trains to and from Grand Central Terminal pass over the Park Avenue Viaduct, which is more than 130 years old,” Metro-North Railroad President Catherine Rinaldi said in a statement. “Replacement of this structure is a priority state of good repair project that is critical to our ability to provide safe and reliable service. We are thrilled that this project is underway, and we will continue to work closely with MTA Construction & Development to minimize impacts to our service.”
Phase 1 of the project, extending from East 115th Street to East 123rd Street along Park Avenue, includes replacement of the existing steel structure as well as new tracks, power, communications, and signal systems. Substructure construction to replace the viaduct’s foundations and columns began in September 2023 and construction for Phase 1 will continue through 2026. This first round of work is part of the $590 million earmarked for the first phase of the Park Avenue Viaduct Replacement project, of which $500.9 million is federally funded.
The entirety of the Park Avenue Viaduct runs from the entrance of the Park Avenue Tunnel at East 97th Street to the Harlem River, however, the Park Avenue Viaduct Replacement project focuses on the structural elements in need of repair dating from the 1890s between East 110th Street and the Harlem River Lift Bridge, spanning 1.8 miles.
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