MTA Work Complete On Downtown Mount Vernon's 10th Ave Bridge

MOUNT VERNON, NY — Downtown Mount Vernon districts are once again connected with the reopening of the 10th Avenue bridge over the Metro-North train tracks.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) announced the long-awaited completion of the multi-year, $11.5 million construction project on Wednesday. Officials say replacing the structure was no small task.

The project required demolishing the old bridge and rehabilitating the remaining masonry abutments. Only then could replacement girders and the concrete decks of the bridge be installed. Signal cables also had to be relocated as part of the upgrade.

Lead abatement and asbestos removal were also major components of the bridge replacement undertaken by the New York City civil construction firm E.E Cruz.

"We are excited to see the reopening of the 10th Avenue Bridge this month,” Mount Vernon Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard said. “For years it has been closed, depriving residents and our public safety vehicles a key access point to cross our city. This bridge has been closed for years and I want to thank the MTA for working with the City of Mount Vernon to ensure that these bridges opened on schedule. I look forward to the reopening of the 3rd Avenue bridge in the very near future.”

The 10th Avenue Bridge is one of six bridges that span Metro-North Railroad’s New Haven Line in downtown Mount Vernon that the MTA will eventually replace. The replacement of the 10th Avenue Bridge was part of a combined $23 million project that also includes the replacement of the 6th Avenue Bridge in Mount Vernon. Funding for the projects came from the MTA 2015-2019 Capital Program.

THe MTA says construction began on the Third Avenue Bridge in April 2020 and is expected to take 18 months to complete. Metro-North reopened the 6th Avenue Bridge ahead of schedule in Sept. 2020. The 14th Street Bridge opened on July 3, 2019, and the Park Avenue/1st Avenue Bridge was replaced in 2011.

“The MTA is transforming the way we deliver construction projects so we get work done on time and on budget,” MTA President Construction & Development Janno Lieber said in a statement announcing the reopening. “We are using a broad range of tools including financial incentives to hold contractors accountable, and finding efficiencies by bundling projects that are geographically close. Here at Mount Vernon these new approaches are helping us ensure we can reopen these bridges on the timeframe we promised the community.”