Long Island Motor Parkway Bridges Page keywords = Long Island Motor Parkway Vanderbilt toll road limited access highway highway Rail Road bridge
Updated: 04 Feb 2008, 22:40 ET
(Created: 01 Jan 2004)
[Ref: This is limpbrdg.html (URL http://home.att.net/~Berliner-Ultrasonics/limpbrdg.html )]

S. Berliner, III's

Long Island Motor Parkway
Bridges Page

{and these are only thumbnails, at that!

Consultant in Ultrasonic Processing
"changing materials with high-intensity sound"
Technical and Historical Writer, Oral Historian
Popularizer of Science and Technology
Rail, Auto, Air, Ordnance, and Model Enthusiast
Light-weight Linguist, Lay Minister, and Putative Philosopher

LONG ISLAND MOTOR PARKWAY

a.k.a. Vanderbilt Motor Parkway

(and related matters)

This site has now been visited times since the counter was installed.

Because the Main Page overloaded, please visit the many Continuation Pages noted on the LIMP Index page.

PAGE INDEX

The index on this page has been deleted to save page space; see the LIMP Index on the page preceding the main LIMP page.

On this LIMP Bridges Page:
Maxess-Duryea Abutments.
Removal of Bridges Over the Long Island Rail Road in 1984 -
Main Line (Mineola/Carle Place)
Oyster Bay Branch (Williston Park/Albertson/Roslyn)
The LIMP bridge that wasn't! (05 Feb 08)

This is yet another new (28 Dec 03) page to cover additional information and photographs of this interesting old highway; see also my Automotive, Chrysler, Dudgeon (really!), Mercedes, and SS and JAGUAR car pages and other related pages.

A Motor Parkway Panel has been convened to keep the LIMP alive in situ, in minds, and in museums.

There is also a lot of automotive material on my ORDNANCE and HISTORY pages.

Also, if you like automotive history, see the links on the Automotive page.

RoW = Right-of- Way.

LONG ISLAND MOTOR PARKWAY - continued

Maxess-Duryea Abutments

I have said repeatedly on this site that meeting some really great people is one of the biggest benefits of all this work; well, it's happened again, but doubly so. I received an e-mail from Tony Schmitt on 03 Nov 2004 telling me that he "grew up on a vegetable farm at the intersection of Ruland and Republic Roads in Melville", that he "spent much time playing on the site of the old LI Motor Parkway", that he recognized some of the pictures, and (and this I forgot about) that he sent a link to his father. O.K.; that's what this site is all about. What makes it funny is that, bright and early (farmers hours!) the next morning (04 Nov), I got a call from Tony Schmitt and briskly proceeded from his message, about which he knew nothing! You got it! THIS Tony Schmitt was the FATHER and what he had to add is priceless! It seems there was a schoolhouse on the S side of Duryea Road (on what would now be the SE corner of Duryea and Maxess), well before Maxess was cut through, and the bridge was a footbridge over the LIMP RoW for the students! Now it can be told! That explains why the abutments are so narrow. Without the footbridge, the schoolkids would have had to trek all the way to Republic Road and back. Thanks, Tony(s)!

[Incidentally, Tony (Sr.) told me that the reason Maxess was not just a northerly extension of Republic Road was that that would have cut through the LILCO (Long Island Lighting Co., now LIPA) plant on the N side of Ruland.]

Removal of Bridges Over the Long Island Rail Road in 1984

Motor Parkway Panel member Ron Ridolph was able to be on the scene when the LIMP bridges over the Long Island Rail Road's Main Line in Mineola and the Oyster Bay branch (between Williston Park, Albertson, and Roslyn) were removed in 1984 and he took many rolls of film of the two events. Over the years, Ron has treated us to a few slides at slide shows he has presented but now he has been kind enough to select some of his best images and share them with us. Thanks to Ron and his son Gary, here are 57 thumbnailed images, separated into the Main Line bridge and the Oyster Bay bridge, with Ron's captions directly ABOVE each image and some of my own comments in [brackets and italicized below].

The bridges by then had become an attractive nuisance, where rogue teens dropped concrete blocks onto passing LIRR trains and such. What seems odd to me, a confirmed LIRR fan, is that I never noticed the bridge on the Oyster Bay Branch, even though I must have bicycled over it numerous times in the late 50s and early 60s!

[I was unsure of whether this belonged with the LIMP History pages or not;
the events pictured here occurred in 1984 and, from Ron's and my perspective,
that's RECENT, so here they are!]

MAIN LINE

38 - LIRR Main Line LIMP Bridge DPW yard, looking South /
39 - LIRR Main Line LIMP Bridge looking East:

(All photos taken 1984 by R. Ridolph - all rights reserved)
[Thumbnail images; click on pictures for larger images.]
[The RoW north of the Main Line had been ripped up for the DPW yard,
leaving the north abutment free-standing.
The gantry erected on the bridge girders was used to lift and carry off the floor sections.]

40 - LIRR Main Line LIMP Bridge girder-plate inspection /
43 - LIRR Main Line LIMP Bridge floor joist lift:

45 - LIRR Main Line LIMP Bridge floor removal /
46 - LIRR Main Line LIMP Bridge DPW yard, concrete debris:

[The left-hand photo (45) is especially helpful for those trying to visualize the location of the LIMP RoW in Mineola/Carle Place; the boundary, just west of Glen Cove/Clinton Road, was moved to coincide with the RoW and the Fairhaven Apartments at 400 East Old Country Road in Mineola, where there are still posts standing (NOT the Fairhaven at 401 East Jericho Turnpike in Carle Place, also on the RoW, between it and Northern State Parkway) show clearly beyond the bridge girder. The roof to the left (east) is the easternmost building of the complex and the road between them is Russell Drive, with Vanderbilt Drive and the remanent posts out of sight to the left.]

For more on the Fairhaven Apartments complex and the LIRR crossing,
see LIMP continuation page 3.

47 - LIRR Main Line LIMP Bridge removed girders /
48 - LIRR Main Line LIMP Bridge removed floor:

49 - LIRR Main Line LIMP Bridge removed girders /
50 - LIRR Main Line LIMP Bridge floor joist cut-removal:

51 - LIRR Main Line LIMP Bridge floor joist cut-removal /
52 - LIRR Main Line LIMP Bridge floor joist removal lift:

[These two photos clearly show how the cross-members were stripped of concrete and cut at an angle such that they would not fall free but would stay in place until lifted out by the crane.]

53 - LIRR Main Line LIMP Bridge floor section removal /
54 - LIRR Main Line LIMP Bridge floor joist removal lift:

55 - LIRR Main Line LIMP Bridge floor joist removal lift /
57 - LIRR Main Line LIMP Bridge floor section removal:

59 - LIRR Main Line LIMP Bridge removed floor section /
60 - LIRR Main Line LIMP Bridge floor removed:

61 - LIRR Main Line LIMP Bridge removed floor section /
67 - LIRR Main Line LIMP Bridge crane, final bridge removal:

68 - LIRR Main Line LIMP Bridge torch final bridge removal /
69 - LIRR Main Line LIMP Bridge torch final bridge removal:

[These and the following three photos are simply spectacular!]

70 - LIRR Main Line LIMP Bridge torch final bridge removal /
71 - LIRR Main Line LIMP Bridge torch final bridge removal:

72 - LIRR Main Line LIMP Bridge torch final bridge removal /
73 - LIRR Main Line LIMP Bridge torch final bridge removal:

74 - LIRR Main Line LIMP Bridge torch final bridge removal /
77 - LIRR Main Line LIMP Bridge South embankment removed:

78 - LIRR Main Line LIMP Bridge North embankment removed:

(All photos taken 1984 by R. Ridolph - all rights reserved)
[Thumbnail images; click on pictures for larger images.]

OYSTER BAY BRANCH

06 - LIRR OBB LIMP Bridge looking North /
10 - LIRR OBB LIMP Bridge looking North workmen:

(All photos taken 1984 by R. Ridolph - all rights reserved)
[Thumbnail images; click on pictures for larger images.]
[Some of the workmen were prisoners on work-release! (Modern slavery?)]

11 - LIRR OBB LIMP Bridge looking West at Williston Park /
13 - LIRR OBB LIMP Bridge looking North, right side:

14 - LIRR OBB LIMP Bridge outboard work platform /
18 - LIRR OBB LIMP Bridge demolition inspection of rebar:

19 - LIRR OBB LIMP Bridge looking West /
20 - LIRR OBB LIMP Bridge custom gantry:

21 - LIRR OBB LIMP Bridge gantry rollers /
22 - LIRR OBB LIMP Bridge gantry roller dozer idler bearing:

[The gantry rode on inverted wheel assemblies from scrapped bulldozer idlers.]

24 - LIRR OBB LIMP Bridge floor joist removal /
25 - LIRR OBB LIMP Bridge jack hammer work:

26 - LIRR OBB LIMP Bridge night time cutting torch /
28 - LIRR OBB LIMP Bridge night time cutting torch:

[These are equally spectacular!]

29 - LIRR OBB LIMP Bridge East side embankment /
32 - LIRR OBB LIMP Bridge West side embankment:

33 - LIRR OBB LIMP Bridge East side embankment closeup /
34 - LIRR OBB LIMP Bridge East side embankment barrier:

35 - LIRR OBB LIMP Bridge West side, bridge debris /
41 - LIRR OBB LIMP Bridge floor joists before removal:

62 - LIRR OBB LIMP Bridge removed /
64 - LIRR OBB LIMP Bridge removed floor sections on LIMP:

65 - LIRR OBB LIMP Bridge removed floor sections on LIMP /
66 - LIRR OBB LIMP Bridge West side embankment:

[In spite of the debris, the left-hand picture shows clearly
just how lovely the LIMP RoW can be!]

75 - LIRR OBB LIMP Bridge West side embankment /
76 - LIRR OBB LIMP Bridge East side embankment removed:

(All photos taken 1984 by R. Ridolph - all rights reserved)
[Thumbnail images; click on pictures for larger images.]

Ron and Gary must have put in a lot of work selecting, captioning, and scanning all these photos! I know how inordinately long it took me just to download, thumbnail, and upload them. Call it a labor of love. What a feat of historical documentation! Thanks, guys!

The LIMP bridge that wasn't! There were many places where Vanderbilt and his cronies or staff had to give in to local or landowner pressure and provide access from one side of the Parkway to the other, such as the farmway bridges in what is now Bethpage State Park and Old Bethpage Village Restoration; however, there was (at the very least) one location where that access never materialized. This was immediately NW of the Garden City Toll Lodge and the Clinton Road bridge, where the Garden City Company required a crossing S of Old County Road and N of Stewart Avenue, immediately west of Clinton Road. The Motor Parkway obligingly (probably grudgingly) installed concrete abutments and graded the RoW down under them but, somehow, never quite got around to placing a bridge on them! Here, thanks to Panel Member Howard Kroplick, is what those abutments looked like, perhaps ca. 1930: (05 Feb 08)

that, in itself, may not be so surprising, but what is amazing (to me, at any rate) is that those abutments are STILL THERE!

They are now partially buried because the declevity is filled in and are in the backyards between Russell Road and Pell Terrace, two houses N of Transverse Road:

These pictures are of the E abutment; please bear in mind that the abutments are on PRIVATE property!

Before I got Howard's photos, I was escorted in there on 31 Jan 2008 with only a cell phone camera and took these similar (but lo-res.) shots:

LIMP-knowledgeable neighbors knew of this all along, and it can be clearly seen on old aerial views, but this is the first I knew of it!

Because the Main Page overloaded, please visit the many Continuation Pages noted on the LIMP Index page.

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S. Berliner, III

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