Smith Point Bridge

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

Smith Point Bridge
The Smith Point Bridge looking towards Smith Point County Park.
Coordinates40°44′18″N 72°52′05″W
Carries2 lanes of CR 46
William Floyd Parkway
CrossesNarrow Bay
Maintained bySuffolk County Department of Public Works
ID number1058770
Characteristics
DesignDrawbridge
MaterialSteel
Total length1,216 feet (371 m)
Width28 feet (8.5 m)
Load limit29 (5 on span, 24 approach)
Clearance above22 feet (6.7 m)
History
Construction cost$2,500,000 (1960 USD)
OpenedJuly 4, 1959
Statistics
TollFree
References
[1][2]

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 is the southern terminus of the four-lane William Floyd Parkway (Suffolk CR 46) 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 1916, Fredrick J. Quimby paid for construction of the first Tangier Bridge at Smith Point. It was a wooden footbridge with an engine driven drawbridge. It replaced boat access to Tangier Manor and Quimby's oceanfront development, intended to be a resort town to compete with Atlantic City. Early in 1917, 200 feet in the center of the bridge, including the bascule draw and all its machinery, was destroyed by an ice jam. Subsequent winter storms continued to ravage the remains of the bridge. The few subsequent wooden bridges built to varying degrees of stability over the years were all destroyed by winter ice floes.[4]

In 1926, caravans of camels and horses passed over the bridge for the filming of “The Son of the Sheik” starring Rudolf Valentino and Vilma Banky.[4]

The last wooden footbridge washed away in 1927, and no new bridges were constructed for another 32 years.[4]

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 opened on July 4, 1959. 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 includes bathing and camping facilities. The entire structure was built on concrete piles, with a reinforced concrete roadway laid on a steel beam superstructure.

Structural Specifications
  • Type of bridge: - Steel-deck bascule bridge (drawbridge)
  • Construction started: July 16, 1955
  • Opened to traffic: - July 4, 1959
  • Length of bascule draw span: - 80 feet
  • Total length of bridge: - 1,216 feet
  • Width of bridge: - 28 feet
  • Number of traffic lanes: - 2 lanes
  • Width of roadway: - 22 feet
  • Clearance at center above mean high water: - 22 feet
  • Cost of original structure (including approaches): - $2,500,000

Replacement

The Suffolk County Legislature approved $73 million in funding for a new bridge on Tuesday, June 11, 2019. The new bridge is expected to have a 75- to 100-year life span.[4] The bridge will not be a drawbridge, but will be built with a 55' vertical clearance above the high water mark. The bridge will also have wider shoulders and sidewalks to better accommodate pedestrian traffic. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2021, and should take two years to complete. The federal government is funding 80 percent of the project's cost, with the county share, 20 percent, a release said.[5]

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.
  4. "The Bizarre History of the Smith Point Bridge". Fire Island News. 2019-07-05. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  5. "All Systems Go For Smith Point Bridge Replacement". Shirley-Mastic, NY Patch. 2018-08-24. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
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