The Manhasset Viaduct (also known as the Manhasset Valley Bridge, the Manhasset Valley Viaduct, and the Manhasset Trestle) is a railroad viaduct located between

Manhasset Manhasset is an affluent hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. It is considered the anchor community of the Greater Manhasset area. The population was 8,176 ...

and the Village of Thomaston within the

Town of North Hempstead North Hempstead (officially known as the Town of North Hempstead) is one of three towns in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 237,639 at the time of the 2020 census. It is the 7th largest city or town i ...

, on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. It carries the

Port Washington Branch The Port Washington Branch is an electrified, mostly double-tracked rail line and service owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. It branches north from the Main Line at the former Winfield Junction stat ...

of the

Long Island Rail Road The Long Island Rail Road , or LIRR, is a Rail transport, railroad in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County on Long Islan ...

over

Manhasset Bay Manhasset Bay, New York, is an embayment in western Long Island off Long Island Sound. Description Manhasset Bay forms the northeastern boundary of the Great Neck Peninsula and the southwestern boundary of the Cow Neck Peninsula ( Port Was ...

, between the Cow Neck and

Great Neck Peninsula Great Neck is a region contained within Nassau County, New York, on Long Island, which covers a peninsula on the North Shore and includes nine incorporated villages, among them Great Neck, Great Neck Estates, Great Neck Plaza, Kings Point, ...

Overview

Standing at a height of above Manhasset Bay and measuring in length, the Manhasset Viaduct is the highest bridge on the entire LIRR network. The viaduct uses a steel stringer bridge design and is one of two

King Bridge Company The King Iron Bridge & Manufacturing Company was a late-19th-century bridge building company located in Cleveland, Ohio. It was founded by Zenas King (1818–1892) in 1858 and subsequently managed by his sons, James A. King and Harry W. King an ...

-built railway viaducts still in operation as of 2025 – the other being the Short Line Viaduct near

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

. The Manhasset Viaduct is a critical component of the infrastructure on the LIRR's Port Washington Branch. Its construction enabled the railroad line to traverse the Manhasset Valley and Manhasset Bay: due to the surrounding area's geographical and topographical characteristics, the LIRR could not extend the line into Manhasset and Port Washington – both communities being located across the valley, on the Cow Neck Peninsula – without it building a viaduct over it and the bay. The viaduct also passes over two major roads – one on each end: East Shore Road (at its west end) and Bayview Avenue (at its east end).

History

The Manhasset Viaduct was completed in 1898, and opened on June 23 of that year, as part of the Port Washington Branch's extension from

Great Neck Great Neck is a region contained within Nassau County, New York, on Long Island, which covers a peninsula on the North Shore and includes nine incorporated villages, among them Great Neck, Great Neck Estates, Great Neck Plaza, Kings Poin ...

to Port Washington. It was erected by the

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

-based

, as well as the

Carnegie Steel Company Carnegie Steel Company was a steel-producing company primarily created by Andrew Carnegie and several close associates to manage businesses at steel mills in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area in the late 19th century. The company was formed in ...

, and was constructed using Carnegie Steel. In 1913, the remainder of the Port Washington Branch between the line's split with the former Whitestone Branch east to Port Washington – including the portion of the line over this bridge – was electrified with a

third rail A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a track (r ...

, thus enabling electric trains to operate along the entire line; the electrification officially took place on October 21 of that year.

Historical integrity

The Manhasset Viaduct is eligible for listing on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

, due to its historical and architectural significance and ties to the Carnegie Steel Company.

In popular culture

The Manhasset Viaduct was featured in the 1914 serial, '' The Perils of Pauline''.

References

External links