Metro-North Starts 3rd Avenue Bridge Project In Mount Vernon

MOUNT VERNON, NY — Metro-North Railroad will close the Third Avenue Bridge in Mount Vernon to pedestrians on Wednesday as it begins the long-awaited replacement project there. The closure will allow demolition to start.

The nearly 120-year-old bridge had carried two lanes of vehicular traffic and two sidewalks a distance of 82 feet over Metro-North Railroad’s New Haven Line between 1st Street and Fiske Place. It has been closed to vehicular traffic.

"I appreciate the renewed partnership between the MTA and the City of Mount Vernon to replace our broken bridges," Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard said in the announcement. "With a city of nearly 100,000 residents, it’s in the best interests of public safety and health to have open bridges."

Demolition of the existing bridge is scheduled to start the first week of May. Complete removal of the bridge is expected by July. New girders, or support beams, will be erected and installed for the new bridge in December.

The project is expected to cost $10.4 million and take 18 months to complete by John Civetta & Sons, Inc., a heavy construction contracting firm based in the Bronx.

"We look forward to seeing how this next step in our bridge construction efforts will help to revitalize downtown Mount Vernon and, in the future, serve as an artery for people and traffic to get around,” said Catherine Rinaldi, Metro-North Railroad President. “We are excited for the Third Avenue Bridge project to officially begin."

The Third Avenue Bridge is one of six bridges Metro-North Railroad is replacing across the New Haven Line in downtown Mount Vernon.

An agreement between city and MTA officials was first reached in 2016.

Metro-North Railroad reopened the 14th Street Bridge on July 3, 2019. The Sixth Avenue Bridge and the 10th Avenue Bridge are currently being rebuilt, and are expected to reopen in 2020 and 2021 respectively. Metro-North expects to seek design-build proposals from companies next year for the replacement of the South Street Bridge and Fulton Avenue Bridge.

"The Third Avenue Bridge is of special significance to me because it is in the same neighborhood where I grew up in Mount Vernon," said Westchester County Executive George Latimer. "I am thrilled that Metro-North will be starting construction within the next few weeks, to allow the bridge to remain a gateway to Mount Vernon’s newly-revitalized downtown."

"This is a major step for the revitalization of both the Third Avenue Bridge and downtown Mount Vernon,” said Congressman Eliot Engel. “This project has long been in the works and I'm pleased that we have been able to secure substantial federal funds to get this construction done. These are exactly the type of infrastructure projects we need to update our transportation system and get people back to work."