Roadblocks For New Kosciuszko Span?

Rendering of one of the proposed redesign schemes from NYSDOT.

The New York State Historic Preservation Office has held up plans for the proposed replacement of the Kosciuszko Bridge by raising questions about the destruction of the current bridge and suggesting that the current span be reincorporated into the new design.

The Daily News highlighted a letter from the SHPO to the New York State Department of Transportation that stated that “it is our opinion that the rehabilitation of the existing bridge - which represents a significant and unusual variation of the Warren truss type bridge - is a prudent and feasible alternative to demolition.”

NYSDOT’s plan is to replace and upgrade the one-mile portion of the BQE that contains the bridge, roughly from the LIE/BQE interchange in Queens to Morgan Avenue in Brooklyn. The DOT has cited its reasons for the replacement as (in addition to the Kosciuszko receiving the worst rating among deck-truss bridges statewide in a DOT study):

• Insufficient shoulders
• Narrow lanes
• Insufficient acceleration/deceleration lanes
• Non-standard stopping sight distance
• Accident rate as much as six times the statewide average

The concerns raised by the Historic Preservation Office keep the DOT from finalizing plans and presenting them for approval to federal officials who will have the final say on the project. As the DOT works on a report further explaining why the bridge should be replaced, the SHPO seems to be showing some leeway and has stated that “we will be responsive to [the DOT's] concerns, especially if they are safety related.” If the issues are cleared up, construction on the BQE is slated to begin in 2011 or thereafter.

Learn more about the bridge’s namesake, General Tadeusz Kościuszko, here.

The Kosciuszko Bridge by sizeofguam on Flickr.