Both lanes of the Long Island Expressway at exit 68 have been reopened, according to multiple reports.
Tag: Long Island Expressway
As the warm weather retreats, so do many of the customers of East End businesses that offer locally made products. But sales for some of these companies may taper off less than usual this season with the addition of the new Long Island Welcome Center in Dix Hills, where a Taste NY market is selling local food and goods in an effort to promote tourism.
Planning to head out of town at night? Then you should probably avoid the Long Island Expressway for the next few months. READ
Due to an around-the-clock renovation project on the Route 25 bridge over the Long Island Expressway, only one lane in each direction is now open, according to the state Department of Transportation.
Construction on the bridge will last until next spring. READ
We all know the Long Island Expressway doesn’t lead to Greenport and Orient — this is actually a Route 58 sign — but what you might not know is that throughout the 1950s and 1960s many local officials hoped it would. (Credit: Grant Parpan photo illustration)
Driving to the end of the Long Island Expressway and exiting onto the western edge of Route 58, Riverhead’s commercial capital, it’s difficult to imagine that a plan once called for the island’s longest road to extend into Southold Town.
But drawn on a map titled “Expressway Plan 1959 County Planning Board” are two thick red lines that run from the Riverhead Town line to Old North Road in Orient. One line indicates eastbound Long Island Expressway traffic. The other shows traffic lanes heading west. (more…)
The Long Island Expressway will be partially closed due to construction in Riverhead this weekend, according to the New York State Department of Transportation. (more…)
The LIE will be closed from exits 71 to 73 the next two nights. (Credit: Google Earth)
The Riverhead exits of the Long Island Expressway will be closed the next two nights as “structural improvements” are made to a bridge over the Long Island Rail Road tracks, a New York State Department of Transportation spokesperson said Monday. (more…)
Officials announced this morning that the Long Island Expressway will remain closed in both directions until 8 a.m., limiting traffic to emergency personnel.
The LIE was closed to traffic at midnight, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced, in preparation of a snowstorm expected to dump anywhere from five to nine inches of snow Thursday night into Friday morning.
The LIE was originally closed until at least 5 a.m. and a decision to reopen the highway was made between 3:30 and 4 a.m., Mr. Cuomo said.
Mr. Cuomo said a state-wide state of emergency has been declared and he urged residents to stay off the roads.
In Riverhead, highway superintendent Gio Woodson said his crews are ready for the storm. Click here to read more.
PAUL SQUIRE PHOTO | Peconic Bay Medical Center treated 18 victims from the accident on the LIE Wednesday, the hospital’s president said.
A Vermont-trucking company that owns the tractor-trailer involved in Wednesday’s massive pileup on the LIE is telling Suffolk County police investigators the truck was heading to a sand mine on Speonk-Riverhead Road in Speonk, police said.
Representatives with the company, Jewell Transport Inc., of White River Junction, Vt. were not immediately available for comment.
Initial reports had it that the truck was heading to somewhere in Riverhead Town.
A Southampton Town spokeswoman said town officials were not yet made aware of where the truck — reportedly carrying a load of Hurricane Sandy debris out of Nasssau County — was heading to, if it was indeed heading to the town.
A DEC spokeswoman said the agency is looking into the matter.
The 35-vehicle crash Wednesday claimed the life of a 68-year-old Blue Point woman, identified as Christa Zepf, and injured 33 others, including 57-year-old Robert Murphy of Lloyd Harbor who was seriously injured, police said.
The LIE’s eastbound lanes were closed to traffic overnight between exits 66 and 69, but had reportedly reopened by 7 a.m.
Both sides of the highway were shut down in the hours after the crash.
Sixteen victims, including adults and children who were in car seats at the time of the accident, were treated for non life-threatening injuries after the pileup at Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead.
The rest went to hospitals in Stony Brook, Port Jefferson and East Patchogue, police said.
Two other victims were being evaluated for more serious injuries, he said Wednesday.
The crash happened just west of west of the William Floyd Parkway in Shirley about 2:40 p.m. where the driver of the Jewell Transport-owned tractor-trailer, Raymond Simoneau, 42, of Rockingham, Vt., struck a number of cars, police said.
Newsday reported the truck was heading to a site in Riverhead with Hurricane Sandy debris out of East Meadow.
Neither county nor town officials could confirm Thursday where in town, exactly, the debris was heading.
“Following the initial collision, a chain-reaction crash occurred,” Suffolk police said in a release. “The tractor-trailer, which was carrying storm debris, and two additional vehicles caught fire and were extinguished by fire department personnel.”
Wading River Fire Department sent an ambulance to the scene of the crash to assist, first assistant fire chief Jim Evans said. Riverhead fire officials said they were not called to the accident. In all, five fire departments and EMS workers from 19 ambulance districts responded to the scene.
Click here for a Newsday video and coverage from the scene.
Michael White and Tim Gannon contributed reporting for this story.