Elmont Station

OHLA USA’s subsidiary, Judlau Contracting, Inc., served as the design-build contractor for the design and construction of Elmont Station, which is LIRR’s first new facility built in almost 50 years. The station is a significant part of the large-scale Belmont Park Redevelopment project, encompassing the Belmont Park racetrack and the UBS Arena, the home of the New York Islanders hockey team. It is ADA-compliant and includes free WiFi, digital screens, elevators, canopies, and charging stations. The first phase of the station’s opening coincided with the Islander’s season home opener in November 2021. The second phase was celebrated with an official ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by many state and local government representatives in October 2022, signifying passenger access for both eastbound and westbound trains for games and concerts at UBS Arena. The facility will serve as a full-time commuter station once Grand Central Madison, also known as East Side Access, is completed later in 2022.

One of the $66.5 million contract’s many noteworthy challenges was the installation of steel girders to support the new station platforms situated above the Cross Island Parkway (CIP), a heavily traveled urban highway. Judlau coordinated and oversaw the installation of four massive steel beams over the parkway along with six additional girders adjacent to the CIP – equaling a total weight of a half-million pounds. Each girder comprised two components that were spliced together by utilizing a temporary center pier. The girders on the north side of the LIRR tracks were installed using a crane, and the girders on the south side of the tracks were placed using a self-propelled modular transporter (SPMT) due to the presence of overhead wires. Cranes set the girders on the SPMT, which then traveled to the location and were raised into position over the CIP, which was closed to traffic while the heavy lift and installation activities took place.