The MTA is planning to eliminate three of the busiest Long Island Rail Road grade crossings, spots that have been linked to deadly crashes for decades. The move would remove the points where road traffic meets the tracks directly, a change that officials hope will make some of the most heavily used intersections on Long Island considerably safer for drivers and pedestrians alike.
The three crossings targeted are at Lowell Avenue in Central Islip, Straight Path in Wyandanch and 5th Avenue in Brentwood. All three sit on busy stretches of Long Island where cars regularly cross the railroad tracks, and each has a long history of dangerous incidents that has kept them on the radar of transportation officials for years.
Rather than keeping the crossings at street level, the MTA plans to turn them into bridges or underpasses. Separating the road traffic from the trains would allow vehicles to pass over or under the tracks without ever having to stop for a train, removing the risk that comes from cars and trains sharing the same level at the same location.
To pay for the work, the agency is drawing on 7.5 million dollars in federal funding. That money was awarded this week, giving the project a financial foundation as planning moves ahead. The federal support marks a concrete step toward changes that officials have long said are needed at these particular crossings.
The scale of the traffic involved helps explain why the crossings have drawn so much attention. About 63,000 drivers pass through the three locations every day, making them major chokepoints in the local road network. That volume means any improvement to how the crossings function could affect a large number of commuters and residents.
For people who live and drive in the area, the plan has been welcomed as a way to ease both danger and congestion. One resident said a bridge would be really good, adding that it would open up the roads and help with traffic, and pointing to the heavy backups seen near the tracks at 5th Avenue as an example of the problems the project could address.
Although the funding has only just been awarded, the MTA says it has been working with Suffolk County on the effort for months. For now, however, there is no timeline for when construction might begin or be completed, leaving open the question of how soon drivers will see the crossings transformed into bridges or underpasses.