More than 200 local bridge and culvert projects across New York will get a financial boost with a combined $484 million from the state’s BRIDGE NY initiative and the federal Bridge Formula Program this year, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced July 11.
BRIDGE NY is focused on projects to reduce flooding risks and improve structures’ resiliency in the face of severe weather linked to climate change. It also aims to boost regional economic competitiveness and environmental justice benefits.
“As New York continues to experience the facts of climate change firsthand, we need to make critical infrastructure upgrades so our communities can withstand the extreme weather to come,” Hochul said in a statement.
Most of the awards are below $6 million. Regionally, Western New York is slated to receive the largest amount of money from the program, $77.4 million, for 37 county- and municipality-owned projects.
The largest award for a single project is a combined $73.8 million for four bridge replacements on the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn, with each set to receive more than $18 million.
That $220-million design-build project is needed to address some non-standard road conditions and deterioration of the existing bridges. It would replace the parkway’s bridges over Sheepshead Bay Road, Ocean Avenue, Bedford Avenue and Nostrand Avenue. The scope also includes some road widening, construction of retaining walls, improvements to embankments and drainage, and reconfiguration of the Nostrand Avenue bridge to eliminate pier columns that restrict lane configuration, procurement documents show. It covers about 1 mile of the parkway.
The New York City Dept. of Transportation has already shortlisted two bidders for that work: Posillico Civil Inc. and a joint venture of MLJ Contracting Corp. and CAC Industries. NYCDOT anticipates awarding the contract later this year and issuing a notice to proceed next spring for a 2028 completion.
“Without the Belt Parkway, tens of thousands of New Yorkers would lose their ability to visit family members, participate in the economy and access all our city has to offer,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) in a statement. His district includes the Belt Parkway stretch covered by the project.
Other awards through the BRIDGE NY initiative include $5.8 million to St. Lawrence County for replacement of a bridge carrying Route 49 over East Branch of the St. Regis River, $5.2 million to Steuben County for replacement of the Newcomb Road bridge over Canisteo Creek and $5 million to Mount Kisco for replacement of the Preston Way bridge over the Metro-North Railroad. A total of 216 projects owned by 137 local governments are slated to receive funding.
