Repairs begin on Fire Island Inlet Bridge; expect lane closures

Repairs will start Wednesday on the Fire Island Inlet Bridge, a structure authorities closed temporarily last summer after a fishing boat captain reported a falling chunk of concrete and was recently the subject of a viral video showing its bridge deck had a foot-wide hole.

Crews "will begin repairs to the Fire Island Inlet Bridge deck to address erosion caused by severe winter weather and remove the recently installed steel plates," New York State Department of Transportation officials said in a news release.

The bridge is the primary conduit for millions of beachgoers each year driving from Islip across the Great South Bay and the inlet to Robert Moses State Park. Robert Moses attracts about 4 million visitors a year, second on Long Island only to Jones Beach.

In late February, Stephen Canzoneri, a spokesman for the state DOT, told Newsday in an email the hole was likely caused by severe freeze-thaw cycles. The department used the steel plates as a stopgap until weather permitted more repairs.

The work is expected to take about a week and will take place alongside the annual inspection of the bridge. That job, which is expected to conclude around April 30, requires closure of one lane of the bridge causeway between Ocean Parkway and Robert Moses State Park daily from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The DOT on Wednesday said closures could last past 3 p.m., depending on conditions.

The bridge passed two inspections over the past two years. The DOT said the bridge was safe after temporary repairs in February.

Experts told Newsday the video — in which a narrator could be heard saying, "Emergency emergency emergency!" and gaps in exposed rebar were visible — was not necessarily evidence of structural danger, as would have been the case from holes in the bridge beams.

Nevertheless, they said, the bridge should be repaired immediately. They also said they were alarmed by deteriorating bridge conditions statewide.

The 4,232-foot bridge opened in 1964 after three years of construction. It cost $10 million, equivalent to $106.5 million today, and was hailed by one local lawmaker at the time as a "tribute to the genius" of public works planner Robert Moses.

Two other bridges connecting Suffolk's mainland to Fire Island have also been hampered by degraded conditions. On the bridge to Smith Point County Park, travel was restricted to one lane in November after a state inspection "revealed structural deterioration," Newsday has reported. Ponquogue Bridge in Hampton Bays, which connects to Dune Road, was closed in February 2025 due to deterioration of the concrete girders, before being reopened to limited travel.