Fire Island Inlet Bridge reopens after emergency inspection

A bridge linking to some of Long Island’s most iconic beaches reopened Monday afternoon after an emergency inspection forced its partial closure, but authorities will continue to monitor and restrict traffic on the span.

While the severity and cause of the incident weren’t immediately clear, experts said it highlights a recent uptick in bridge deterioration across the state, though Long Island bridges remain in better repair compared with other regions.

The Fire Island Inlet Bridge, which connects Jones Beach Island to Robert Moses State Park, closed to vehicular traffic late Sunday due to reports of a falling object, the state Department of Transportation said. The department declined to say what type of object fell off the bridge. But a park official, who was not authorized to discuss the incident, told Newsday that a fishing boat captain reported concrete falling from the bridge around 9 p.m. Sunday.

The state transportation department conducted an initial inspection overnight and another one Monday morning before reopening the bridge around 12:40 p.m., spokesperson Stephen Canzoneri said.

The department “has determined that it is structurally sound and safe for travel. The bridge is now open in both directions,” Canzoneri said in a statement.

The state planned to conduct a third inspection Monday evening and perform any needed maintenance “out of an abundance of caution” and traffic will be reduced to one lane with alternating flows from 10 p.m. until noon Tuesday, according to Canzoneri.

Transportation officials were also working with the Coast Guard to limit marine traffic to the south side of the inlet underneath the bridge until at least Monday evening’s inspection, he added. 

The bridge provides the only vehicular access to Robert Moses State Park, which remained open under normal opening hours, according to state parks officials.

On Monday morning before the reopening, New York State Parks Police and state transportation vehicles blocked traffic southbound on the Jones Beach Island side of the bridge, as orange cones lined the road from the Captree State Park exit up to the entrance of the bridge. The only vehicles allowed to cross in either direction were emergency service personnel or state park employees, authorities at the scene said.

Sam Wood, a Fire Island resident who owns a sanitation business, said he learned of the closure around 4 a.m. when his employees called to say they couldn’t cross the bridge. Three of his trucks filled with trash and waste were delayed for hours to cross off Fire Island.

Driving is largely restricted to essential services during the summer months on Fire Island, but Wood said the bridge is important for things like garbage removal, septic service, utilities and emergency medical services.

“When you’re in business on Fire Island, you wake up in the morning, you have no idea what you’re going to be facing on any given day, and so this is just another day,” Wood said.

Wood said he and other garbage companies had requested special permission from the National Park Service, which manages the Fire Island National Seashore, to operate outside of normal hours on Monday and Tuesday to make up for lost work time because of the closure. They were denied, he said.

The National Park Service did not immediately respond to a message requesting comment.

Corey Cronin, the owner of Beach Propane, said he hired a barge to transport extra propane canisters to the island after experiencing delays crossing the bridge.

Many residents and restaurants depend on propane canisters for cooking and heating water — especially during peak season.

“They have to be open seven days a week. For me to turn around and say, ‘Hey, I can’t get you any gas, you’re going to have to close your doors’ — it could have hurt,” Cronin said.

Bridge inspected in 2024

According to a state database, the bridge was built in 1962 and was inspected as recently as May 2024. That inspection found its condition was “not poor” — meaning it scored above four on the state’s nine-point rating system.

“Given that this is a bridge over salt water, there’s obviously a concern with the weather conditions’ [effect] on the steel and the concrete structure,” said Marc Herbst, president of the Long Island Contractors’ Association. “But I don’t think anyone was aware of [any deterioration]. The DOT has been pretty good at monitoring and inspecting bridges.”

Long Island’s bridge conditions are far better than the rest of the state and nation, but both the Island and the state saw an uptick in bridges with a poor rating in 2024. Last year, 2% of Long Island bridges were in poor condition, compared to 9.4% statewide.

Bridge construction and maintenance can be very expensive, especially for local governments — though the state owns 276 of Long Island’s 368 bridges, including the Fire Island Inlet Bridge.

Fred Hiffa, an Albany-based former deputy commissioner of transportation, told Newsday the recent decline in bridge conditions in all regions of the state was partly due to a lack of investment.

While the state is receiving about $13.5 billion over five years for bridges and roads through the federal bipartisan infrastructure law, which then-President Joe Biden signed in 2021, part of the problem is the state did not match that with a similar increase in state spending, he said.

And rather than investing in core spending on road and bridge maintenance across the state, he said the DOT had been preoccupied with constructing a small number of megaprojects upstate.

“What you’re seeing is a really slow spend out of resources,” Hiffa said. “It’s painful how little has gone out the door” for maintenance, he said.

The state Department of Transportation did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the spending.