Help Restore the Old Bethpage Village Restoration Motor Parkway Bridge
Only two Motor Parkway bridges remain standing in Nassau County- in Manhasset Hills and Old Bethpage. Here is background on the Old Bethpage Village Restoration Motor Parkway Bridge and your opportunity to help restore it... tonight!
November 1907 Survey Maps of Old Bethpage Area
This 1907 survey map shows the Motor Parkway route through the Clair Foster property, located in the current Old Bethpage area. The now destroyed bridge over Claremont Avenue can be seen in the middle of the survey.
The Motor Parkway Bridge (now the Old Bethpage Restoration Village Bridge) over a proposed highway can be seen on the far right.
This 1907 survey map showed the landscape on the property.
1950: Old Bethpage Aerials
The Motor Parkway can still be clearly seen in this 1950 aerial of Old Bethpage
A closeup of the area around the Old Bethpage bridge.
January 2010: Old Bethpage Restoration Village Motor Parkway Bridge
August 2010: Old Bethpage Restoration Village Motor Parkway Bridge
Joe E. has forwarded these August 2010 photos of the bridge and the following report:
" I studied the area and found a trail off to the side to get underneath the overpass, and it is a rough trail, the graffitti artists came in through a hole in the fence that most likely leads to a factory parking lot on Spagnoli Rd. Another problem is the farmland that an outside company grows crops on, but it does make a few pennies for the County. The problem is that the farm is using the open "hole" underneath and in front of the span to dump their crop waste.The pile will just keep growing. It looked to me like last years onion and garlic crop stalks, but that also means in order to toss them in the spot they're in, they have to park on top of the bridge, unless they are bringing them back there by human power which I am not sure of."
If you would like to help restore and preserve the bridge, please join Al Velocci and me at the first meeting of The Long Island Motor Parkway Panel tonight at the Bonwit Inn, 1 Vanderbilt Parkway, Commack, beginning at 7:00 PM. Everyone interested in the Long Island Motor Parkway is invited to attend!
Links to related posts on VanderbiltCupRaces.com:
Comments
Howard, how did the meeting go? I’m sorry that I didn’t know about it until after the fact. I’d be interested in future meetings. This bridge needs to be preserved. The Model A Ford club has been active is clearing the debris under and around the bridge.
Roger Price
Hi Roger:
Here is a summary of the meeting:
http://www.vanderbiltcupraces.com/index.php/blog/article/thursday2_17_11report_from_the_first_meeting_of_the_long_island_motor_parkw
You are now a Founding Member of the Long Island Preservation Society.
Howard
Howard,
Count me in on helping to restore the bridge. The Model A Ford Club of Long Island has been trying to get this started for years. I’m happy to see progress is finally being made.
Walter Blessing Past Pres. MAFCLI
This is a project that all involved who live on Long Island should know about. You may well want to contact the Long Island Council of the Boy Scouts and see if we can get them involved as well to help add peoplepower. All that is required is the help of the person upstairs to let the sun shing on the day you post to give the biggest turnout and support for this project.