Metro-North to Rebuild Prospect Hill Road Bridge in Southeast

SOUTHEAST, NY — MTA Metro-North Railroad announced Friday that it will rebuild and reopen the Prospect Hill Road Bridge in Southeast. The $9.5 million investment is part of the MTA’s 2015-2019 Capital Program. The 107-year-old bridge has been closed to vehicular and pedestrian traffic since 2008.

“A bridge long taken for granted by many over the years, has proved in its absence how important it is to the vitality of our community," Town of Southeast Supervisor, Tony Hay said in the MTA's press release. "Replacing the former decades-old ‘rickety bridge’ with a state-of-the-art bridge will restore a valuable piece of infrastructure within our community. We look forward to its construction and reopening.”

The bridge is located just south of the Southeast station; it carries Prospect Hill Road over the Harlem Line tracks and parts of Metro-North’s Brewster Yard.

“Anyone who lives in eastern Putnam knows the congestion and traffic caused by the out-of-commission Prospect Hill Bridge," said U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney. "Using a combination of federal dollars and support from MTA and our local community we are investing in rebuilding and reopening the bridge, which will create more economic activity in the area and make life easier for drivers and residents. This announcement is a win-win.”

On Wednesday, the MTA Board approved a contract to the firm Halmar International for the design and construction of the replacement bridge.

The first element of the reconstruction will involve the demolition and removal of the 270-foot-long bridge, piers, abutments and roadway approaches, as well as clearing trees, shrubs, stumps and rubbish from the future right-of-way.

Utility poles will be excavated, removed and re-installed for structural work; crews will then construct new utilities, including communications, signals, and power.

When this work is finished, the stage will be set for crews to install new abutments, piers, bridge substructure and superstructure, roadway approaches, sidewalk, striping, signage, guide rails, fencing, retaining walls, grading and drainage.

Metro-North estimates the project will take approximately 20 months to complete.

At the direction of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Metro-North issued a design-build contract to expedite the project. Design-build contracts call for a single team of contractors to be responsible for both designing and building an entire project in order to ensure that coordination is seamless, and that work is completed in the shortest possible time frame.

The MTA’s 2015-19 $29.4 billion Capital Program is the largest in the MTA’s history.

“Metro-North has been working diligently with the Town of Southeast to rebuild the Prospect Hill Bridge," Metro-North Railroad President Joseph Giulietti said. "The bridge has been a key component of the town’s infrastructure for over a century, and funds from the MTA’s Capital Program will help maintain it well into the future. We’re pleased that a new Prospect Hill Bridge will soon be a reality for Putnam residents.”