The signs announcing a new Smith Point Bridge is coming soon have been taken down as the project, previously set to begin in early 2025, will be delayed a year, county officials reported.
The delay is attributed to design changes, including a handicap-accessible fishing pier, observation area beneath the bridge, and a 12-foot-wide shared-use path. According to County Legislator Jim Mazzarella, who helped secure funding for the $126.5 million project, the new features require additional state and federal approvals.
“We thought it would be better to take the sign down saying ‘Bridge coming soon’ if the project is being delayed,” Mazzarella said, noting that some of the construction work must be rebid. The engineering is being handled by the New York firm Hardesty & Hanover, the designer of the original bridge that carries William Floyd Parkway over Narrow Bay to one of the county’s most popular parks.
Funds for the massive project, just west of the existing structure, will come from various federal sources, including the Bridge Formula Program, Surface Transportation Block Grant, and the National Highway Performance Program. Suffolk will foot 20% of the bill, which has risen from original estimates due to inflation in practically all aspects of the construction industry, officials said.
According to the design, the new bridge will be a 1,600-foot-long prestressed concrete structure with ADA-compliant sidewalks and wide shoulders sufficient for cyclists. Unlike the existing drawbridge, the new span, similar to the Ponquogue Bridge in Hampton Bays, will provide a 55-foot clearance over the 100-foot-wide navigation channel to allow boats to pass below.
Since the original bridge was eligible for the State and National Registers of Historic Places, a memorandum of agreement was needed to allow portions to be demolished, with the southern part left as a fishing pier.
Iterations of a bridge at Smith Point date back to the early 1900s before the current span was built in 1959. Developers looking to draw new residents to the area built a succession of wooden structures to carry them to the ocean beach. The latest project will include new recreation areas and upgraded bathroom facilities at the Smith Point pavilion.
The new bridge is part of an area renaissance with the entire Neighborhood Road Business District in Mastic Beach slated for reconstruction, new wastewater treatment facilities built through the Forge River Watershed Sewer Project, rebuilding of the Mastic-Moriches-Shirley Library, and the new Patriots Preserve Park at the former Links golf course. Work on the new transmission cable for the Sunrise Wind turbine project has begun, which will see the repaving of William Floyd Parkway.