GARDEN CITY, N.Y. — The Long Island Rail Road’s Third Track project is unlikely to meet its December 2022 completion date because officials in Garden City have delayed permits needed for a rail bridge project, Newsday reports.
It’s part of a continuing legal battle between the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the village of Garden City, a community of 22,000 near the west end of the 9.8-mile project to add an additional track to the LIRR’s heavily used Main Line between Floral Park and Hicksville, N.Y. The MTA and LIRR have filed suit against the village in the state Supreme Court, alleging officials are “holding hostage” the permits needed to replace a bridge over Denton Avenue.
Garden City had previously sued the LIRR over how utility poles were placed at the Merillon Avenue station as part of the project [see “Digest: Draft plan released …,” Trains News Wire, Feb. 15, 2021]. That suit was dismissed by a state Supreme Court justice in July, a decision currently under appeal.
The bridge project was supposed to have begun in March. MTA officials told the newspaper the project still could be brought back on schedule, but it would require night and weekend work into the winter, driving up costs, including overtime pay.
Garden City officials did not respond to the newspaper’s request for comment or declined comment. But a Facebook post from Mayor Cosmo Veneziale said residents had “many questions concerning the project and how it will continue to impact the Village, particularly with respect to the Denton Avenue Bridge and potential changes to the road and bridge design.” The message said the village could not discuss particulars because of the pending litigation.
I agree with the previous two posters. LIRR probably could still make the schedules (or at least close) with double track through Garden City if no trains stopped there.
In fact it looks like, if you eliminated the station platforms, you could fit three tracks under that bridge. Sources say it’s only a 31 minute walk to Mineola.
LIRR whould “clear-cut” all of its facilities in Garden City with no possibility of return.
bypass all service to this NIMBY town and let them find other means to get to work.
How dare you use that 4-letter word in the U.S.! A segment of perpetual unemployment is need to elect and maintain power of certain social and economic systems. And, the politicians who espouse it.
what 4 letter word all you talking about ???
I won’t say that LIRR is perfect; it’s not.They do need to better engage on what they’ve done or are doing on these poles. But what Garden City is doing is beyond disgusting. NIMBYism is a start. GC is a place of the rich, for the rich, and why should they care if they screw up a project meant to improve commuting for many. Now whether there are racist motives or not I don’t know. What I do know is that they are beyond selfish.
What does surprise me is that only in recent weeks had I heard of the project delay. And yes, I read Newsday every day. So I find this sudden major delay to be very surprising.
Of course we know neither the I-696 nor any other “freeway” ever put down in the U.S. of A. was ever “free”. I just had to get that out. As for the Garden City, LI vs LIRR/NYMTA fracas, I cannot understand, given the 3rd track project has been underway for so long, that this dispute wasn’t long since settled. Too bad Newsday is paywalled or that article linked might have yielded the answer to that.
BANANA – Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything. This is reminiscent of the I-696 freeway in the Detroit suburbs. The city of Lathrop Village held the state at feds at bay for years.
Sounds like they have a NIMBY problem .