Robert Moses Causeway lanes to be closed for a month for bridge inspection
The Fire Island Inlet Bridge will be inspected beginning Monday; a gaping hole in its deck in February raised concerns from travelers. Credit: Michael A. Rupolo Sr.
Robert Moses Causeway will have lanes closed for one month beginning Monday for the annual inspection of the Fire Island Inlet Bridge.
The decision comes one month after a viral video showed a gaping hole in its deck.
According to a travel advisory issued Monday by the New York State Department of Transportation, the closures will be between Ocean Parkway and Robert Moses State Park and have alternating flows of traffic controlled by flaggers.
Lanes will close on weekdays between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. and last for about one month, weather permitting.
A viral video taken before last month’s blizzard showed a more than foot-wide hole in the deck and gaps in exposed rebar, Newsday previously reported.
A steel plate covers the big hole on the Fire Island Inlet Bridge in February. Credit: Michael A. Rupolo Sr.
Experts told Newsday the video does not itself indicate structural dangers, although it was a hazard for drivers in need of immediate fixing.
Stephen Canzoneri, a spokesperson for the state DOT, previously said in an email the damage was likely caused by recent severe freeze-thaw cycles. Newsday reported the department had put steel plates over the section.
The bridge was closed last summer after a fishing boat captain reported a falling chunk of concrete despite passing inspections in the past two years.
A month before it was shut down for emergency repairs in July, an inspection had rated it "not poor" — scoring at least 5 out of 9, according to a state database. Thirteen months before that, another inspection had rated the deck 6 out of 9, or "satisfactory," according to a more detailed federal database.
The state transportation department, which maintains the bridge leading to Robert Moses State Park, said it has since conducted temporary repairs, and it is safe.
A planned rehabilitation of the bridge, which connects Jones Beach Island and Fire Island, isn't scheduled until the fall of 2027.
Long Island has a significantly lower proportion of bridges in "poor" condition than statewide, but it has the highest proportion in "fair" condition of any region in the state, around 71%.
Newsday's Peter Gill contributed to this story.
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