MTA completes Park Avenue Viaduct structural work ahead of schedule
Structure replacement and rehabilitation work for the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Park Avenue Viaduct project has been completed 60 months early and $195 million under budget.
The 133-year-old Park Avenue Viaduct is the elevated steel structure that carries four MTA Metro-North Railroad tracks 1.8 miles along Park Avenue between East 110th Steet and the Harlem River Lift Bridge. It carries 98% of all Metro-North trains and all trains traveling into and out of Grand Central Terminal. Since October 2023, crews have replaced 196 bridge structures and more than 12,600 feet of rail. The work was completed over 28 weekends without delaying trains, MTA officials said in a press release. The $765 million project fortifies the long-term reliability and resiliency of the corridor, they added. To maintain train service and accelerate construction, the MTA used multiple custom gantry systems to lift and place prefabricated bridge units. This allowed crews to install units during tightly coordinated weekend work windows. The project also created enclosed work zones between workers and active tracks, allowing construction to proceed while trains continued operating on adjacent tracks. Non-structural work, including track replacement, cable installation and the removal of temporary fencing and girders, is expected to be completed by September 2027.