Cuomo’s office touts new bridge, clean energy projects for Long Island

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo plans to spend $28.2 million to replace the Walt Whitman Road Bridge in the Town of Huntington, Long Island Press reported. The poet’s namesake bridge was built in 1962 and only has one northbound lane and one southbound lane, along with a sidewalk on the west side. The replacement will have five lanes, sidewalks on both sides and shoulders for cyclists. The bridge will have better materials that will require less maintenence. Its construction will be staged, allowing drivers to continue using the existing bridge, and is slated to finish by late 2020. The replacement comes after the state spent $42.2 million repairing and updating 31 bridges in Nassau and Suffolk counties by repairing concrete beams, replacing joints, waterproofing bridge decks and building parapet walls. The bridge initiative by Cuomo comes as the governor’s office announced another major infrastructure project for Long Island, a large food waste facility planned in Yaphank that is expected to produce four megawatts of clean energy and reduce gas emissions in the region by 85,000 metric tons per year when complete in 2020. [Long Island Press]