Orient Beach State Park closed as officials weigh damage, repair costs from nor'easter

The state has closed Orient Beach State Park as officials assess how much it will cost and how long it will take to repair one of the two lanes of the 2-mile entrance road to the park that collapsed during Saturday’s nor'easter.

George Gorman, Long Island deputy regional director of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, said Tuesday that state parks officials and engineers from the state Department of Transportation are assessing the 300-foot long, 15-foot-wide section of roadway.

Engineers from both agencies are putting together a “detailed analysis of the roadway to be repaired” and will move “as quickly as we can” to repair the damaged road section, Gorman said. 

Stephen Canzoneri, the state Transportation Department’s spokesman on Long Island, Tuesday referred questions to state parks officials, as that agency owns and maintains that portion of the access road.

During superstorm Sandy in October 2012, one of the two lanes sustained erosion damage, Gorman said. The other lane was not damaged in Saturday's storm and “held up reasonably well,” he said.