Smith Point Bridge

Smith Point Bridge

The Smith Point Bridge looking towards Smith Point County Park.
Coordinates 40°44′18″N 72°52′05″W / 40.73833°N 72.86806°W / 40.73833; -72.86806Coordinates: 40°44′18″N 72°52′05″W / 40.73833°N 72.86806°W / 40.73833; -72.86806
Carries 2 lanes of CR 46
William Floyd Parkway
Crosses Narrow Bay
Maintained by Suffolk County Department of Public Works
ID number 1058770
Characteristics
Design Drawbridge
Material Steel
Total length 1,216 feet (371 m)
Width 28 feet (8.5 m)
Load limit 29 (5 on span, 24 approach)
Clearance above 22 feet (6.7 m)
History
Construction cost $2,500,000 (1960 USD)
Opened July 4, 1959
Statistics
Toll Free
References
[1][2]

The Smith Point Bridge is a steel drawbridge located on the south shore of central Long Island, New York.

The bridge crosses the narrows between the Great South Bay to its west and Moriches Bay to the east side of the bridge. The Smith Point Bridge, which is the southern terminus of the four-lane William Floyd Parkway (Suffolk CR 46), opened on July 4, 1959 in Shirley, New York.[3] This bridge serves the Smith Point County Park on the east end of Fire Island, New York. The largest park owned by Suffolk County. The park derives its name from Smith Point which is a peninsula on the Long Island mainland sticking into Bellport Bay which in turn was named for William "Tangier" Smith who in the 17th century owned 50 miles of ocean front property in the Manor of St. George. The Smith Point peninsula is not actually owned by the park.

Access to the beach and the rest of the park is provided by the William Floyd Parkway which crosses Narrow Bay on the two-lane Smith Point Bridge. Large parking fields with tunnels to the Atlantic Seashore are in the area immediately at the end of the Parkway.

A guarded road (with access with permit) extends the end of the barrier island. The park used to extend from the east end of the Fire Island Wilderness portion of the National Seashore to the end of the island at Moriches Inlet, but its west end has been cut short by the breach created during hurricane Sandy.

History

In summer 1955, the Shirley-Mastic Chamber of Commerce broke ground and invited 12,000 people to initiate the building of the new Smith Point Bridge to Fire Island.

The bridge as seen from Smith Point County Park.

The Bridge that spans one-quarter mile represented the first step by Suffolk County to preserve 810 miles of shore frontage for public purposes.

The bridge project was the development of Smith Point County Park, with a beach frontage of 6,000 feet along the eastern side of Fire Island Barrier Island on Atlantic Ocean. The park was to include bathing and camping facilities.

The entire structure was built on concrete piles, with a reinforced concrete roadway laid on a steel beam superstructure.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Structure No. 1058770". United States Department of Transportation. Nationalbridges.com. 2011. Retrieved December 28, 2012.
  2. ↑ Porterfield, Byron (June 4, 1964). "$10 Million Fire Island Bridge To Be Opened to Public June 13". The New York Times. p. 39. Retrieved 2010-04-11.
  3. ↑ Stengren, Bernard (July 5, 1959). "Motorcade Opens Fire Island Span". The New York Times. p. 35. Retrieved 2010-04-11.
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