NO WAY TO CROSS

This map details detour routes for passenger cars and trucks around the Borden Avenue Bridge in Long Island City, The span over the Dutch Kills is scheduled to be closed beginning on or about Monday, Jan. 5 for up to six months as the NYC Department of Transportation conducts emergency repairs to the century-old drawbridge. (map courtesy of the NYC DOT) Drivers who use the Borden Avenue Bridge to travel through Long Island City will have to find an alternate route in January as the crossing is scheduled to be shut down for several months due emergency repair work.

The 100-year-old, two-lane span over the Dutch Kills is expected to be closed for several months in order for improvements to be made. According to a spokesperson for the New York City Department of Transportation, recent studies found that one of the bridge's abutment walls is damaged and "in need of immediate rehabilitation."

A traffic advisory published by MTA New York City Transit indicated that the Borden Avenue Bridge could be closed as early as Monday, Jan. 5, causing the Q67 bus line that travels on the avenue to be rerouted. The DOT spokesperson, however, indicated that the closure "is expected in mid-January."

This Middle Village-bound Q67 bus makes a sharp turn onto the Borden Avenue Bridge, avoiding the damage. Opened in 1908, the Borden Avenue Bridge is located between 27th Street and Review Avenue. One of only two retractable bridges in the city, the span opens and closes with the use of a horizontal slide whenever a boat or vessel traveling through the Dutch Kills must pass.

In addition to passenger vehicles traveling through the neighborhood as an alternate route to the Queens- Midtown Tunnel and Pulaski Bridge, the bridge and Borden Avenue is used as a local truck route serving numerous industries and businesses in the Long Island City area.

With the closure imminent, the DOT has published detour plans for traffic traveling through the area on its website, www.nyc.gov/html/dot/ downloads/pdf/1bordenavenue_ bridge.pdf. Signs marking detour routes in both directions will be posted around the area.

The injured portion of the bridge, located on its southwest corner. The city DOT has already placed metal sheets over the crater to allow pedestrians to walk across. Passenger vehicles and trucks under 12'10" in height traveling westbound on Borden Avenue must turnonto 30th Place and travel one block north to Hunters Point Avenue. The detour route then travels west on Hunters Point Avenue for 0.3 miles before turning left onto 27th Street.

Vehicles following the route then travel three blocks southward on 27th Street before rejoining Borden Avenue.

All trucks over 12'10" tall in height traveling westbound on Borden Avenue will follow the same detour route up to 27th Street. On 27th Street, these rigs will then travel for two blocks before turning west onto 51st Avenue and south onto 25th Street before rejoining Borden Avenue.

Commercial and passenger traffic traveling eastbound on Borden Avenue will turn north onto 25th Street and east on 51st Avenue to 27th Street. After traveling north on 27th Street, the diverted traffic will then turn east on Hunters Point Avenue for 0.2 miles before turning south onto 30th Street and back to Borden Avenue.

A closeup of the damaged portion of the bridge. The waters of the Dutch Kills can be seen through the cracks. (photos: Sam Goldman) All eastbound Q67 buses heading to Maspeth will use their regular route along Hunters Point Avenue, traveling past their scheduled turn on 27th Street, before turning right onto 30th Street for two blocks to Borden Avenue. The buses will then turn left on Borden Avenue back to their regular route.

Westbound buses heading for Long Island City traveling on Borden Avenue will turn right on 30th Place and travel north to Hunters Point Avenue. The buses will then turn left on Hunters Point Avenue to continue their regular route.

It is anticipated in information posted on the DOT's website that the rehabilitation project could last through July 2009.