Update: The Last Intact Motor Parkway Bridge in Suffolk County in the Melville Sand Pits
Twenty-nine members of the Long Island Motor Parkway Preservation Society enjoyed a fun, productive meeting last night at the Old Bethpage Restoration Village. During the meeting, Joe Scotto provided new evidence concerning the last intact Motor Parkway bridge in Suffolk County.
Over the last five years, there have been numerous unsuccessful attempts to photograph the reportedly last intact Motor Parkway Bridge located in the Melville Sandpits. For some reason, the sandpit owners have publicly stated the bridge was demolished over the last decade. "The site engineers believe there is no longer a trace of the parkway on their property anywhere at this point." These aerials provided by Joe Scotto using Bing Maps indicate the bridge is still standing:
Comments
maybe the owners of the sandpit had their own idea of what an “intact bridge” consisted of. i. e. the evidence of a deck.
Hello,
How come the owner will not let you on the property to check? It doesen’t seem like that big of a deal. The history aspect of it seems large enough to allow you acess?
Perhaps, like a lot of property owners, they are reluctant to have people wandering around on their property because of potential liability in case of an accident or injury. Or maybe they are afraid that they will be asked about restoring it etc.
It is likely the owners want the option of taking down this historic bridge in the future without inference from the public.
Howard
Maybe a committee should be formed to look into ways of approaching the owners about preserving the LIMP bridge. Money is tight nowadays but perhaps the two counties could buy a strip of land parallel to the old LIMP route, move the bridge onto it, and make it part of the bi-county
LIMP Hiking and Biking Trail. Groups like the Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities (SPLIA) and the Vanderbilt Museum (my employer) might furnish some helpful advice regarding this.
Just to the south of the bridge is a parking lot behind a business on Spagnoli Road. If anyone has a tall truck or other vehicle, someone could take a photo looking over the fence from that lot.