FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Release #13-54
Seth Solomonow/Nicole Garcia (DOT) (212) 839-4850
Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge: Special Weekend Traffic Pattern For Queens-Bound Traffic to Facilitate Repairs, Oct. 12-14
As part of the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) project to repair the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge following the Aug. 16 truck fire that damaged the bridge, DOT will install two 26-foot-long, 1.5-ton custom steel replacement beams this weekend, requiring partial closures of lanes in both directions of the span from 12 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 12 through 5 a.m., Monday, Oct. 14. The bridge’s two upper and two lower, inner Queens-bound lanes will remain closed for the duration of the project as the replacement beams are installed. To facilitate Queens-bound traffic, the two Manhattan-bound lanes on the span’s lower level will be temporarily reversed to Queens. In addition, the single lane of the south outer roadway, open to passenger cars only, will be available for Queens-bound traffic. The bridge’s two Manhattan-bound lanes on the upper level will continue to remain accessible to Manhattan-bound traffic throughout the weekend, though restricted to trucks. Motorists are urged to avoid the area if possible and to use adjacent crossings.
The truck fire produced temperatures hot enough to melt steel, warping the beams, which DOT crews immediately shored up with plates and other safety measures. While all but one lane re-opened in less than 48 hours, work continued to produce the steel beams and associated damaged parts in DOT’s Iron Shop in Brooklyn.
As with other bridge closures, this traffic pattern will include posted and electronic message signs along streets and highways as well as NYPD traffic agents stationed at the span’s approaches to guide traffic. For more information about the temporary closure or for more information about the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, visit nyc.gov/dot
—30—