What to expect on the Tuesday afternoon/evening commute, now that the LIRR strike is over

All aboard!

Long Islanders currently in the city can opt to ride the rails home this evening. They can also take one last free ride on an MTA shuttle bus.

Here's a rundown of what to expect on the evening commute. 

When and where are LIRR trains operating?

LIRR trains began chugging along the Babylon, Huntington, Ronkonkoma and Port Washington branches Tuesday afternoon, according to the MTA website. All other LIRR branches followed.

About 2:45 p.m., all LIRR branches were running on or close to schedule, according to the MTA website. Riders can anticipate a return to normalcy Wednesday morning.

Are the shuttles still running?

The MTA shuttle buses will operate on a schedule similar to Monday’s. Long Islanders can catch shuttles departing from the Howard Beach-JFK Airport station — which will stop at Hempstead Lake State Park and the Bay Shore, Hicksville and Mineola LIRR stations — between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. During that same time, commuters can catch eastbound shuttles from the Jamaica-179 St subway station to get to the Huntington and Ronkonkoma LIRR stations.

Buses will run in the opposite, westbound direction to bring folks into the city this afternoon from 3 p.m. through 6:30 p.m.

How does traffic look on the roads?

As of 2:40 p.m., westbound traffic along the Long Island Expressway appeared to move well through Nassau and Suffolk counties, but slowed to halt in the Queens neighborhood of Corona, according to the New York State Department of Transportation’s traffic monitoring website 511ny.org.

Eastbound traffic appeared stalled from the Queens Midtown Tunnel through Queens but seemed to ease as drivers headed towards the Cross Island Parkway. Traffic in both directions was running smoothly along the Northern State Parkway and the eastern end of the Grand Central Parkway.

Eastbound traffic appeared heavy on the GCP from Forest Hills through Queens Village. Traffic also looked dense from the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and along most of the Belt Parkway. The Southern State Parkway appeared mostly free from bottlenecks, save for one from Uniondale through North Merrick.

So the strike is over?

Yes. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority and heads of the five LIRR unions representing about half the railroad's 7,000-member workforce returned to the negotiation table early Monday. A deal was reached shortly before 9 p.m. Monday after thousands who rely on the nation's busiest commuter rail system endured commutes twice as long or even longer.

The union's rank and file were expected to approve the deal, leaders said.