One Worker Dies, Another Unaccounted For After Loop Parkway Bridge Fall

One construction worker died and a second remained missing Wednesday after the two went into the water during work on the Loop Parkway Bridge, New York State Police said.

State police said a construction incident on the bridge sent two workers into the water. One of those workers was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment and died of his injuries there. State police did not identify him and said his relatives had yet to be notified. The search for the second worker, who remained unaccounted for, was continuing.

Six other workers on the job were injured, and state police said this group did not go into the water and that their injuries were non-life-threatening.

Emergency crews were still at the site when state police posted an update at 5:18 p.m. The northbound lanes of Loop Parkway remained closed. The southbound lanes had been reopened, state police said.

The first state police release described a response at 11:50 a.m. State troopers went to the bridge with Nassau County police and the state's Department of Environmental Conservation after receiving word that more than one worker had gone into the water while work was under way on the bridge. At that hour, Loop Parkway was shut down in both directions, state police said.

A state Department of Transportation rehabilitation contract awarded on October 16, 2025, for $15,973,000 covers the Loop Parkway bridge over Reynolds Channel in Hempstead, a town in Nassau County. The same contract covers two crossings on the Meadowbrook State Parkway, one over False Channel and one over Fundy Channel. The department lists the work as under construction. The contract's completion date is March 31, 2028, and the department estimates substantial completion on March 1, 2028. Federal and state money is funding the project.

On September 9, 2026, the department told drivers that temporary traffic patterns would start the following week so rehabilitation could proceed on the three bridges. Beginning at 10 p.m. on September 15, the left lane each way on the Reynolds Channel span was to be shut so a new pattern could be set. Westbound drivers were to be moved onto the eastbound half of the bridge, with one lane open in each direction through the rest of the year. On the Meadowbrook, the southbound right lane was scheduled to close at the Fundy Channel and False Channel bridges around September 15 and stay closed until the end of November. The advisory said the speed limit at the three bridges would drop to 45 mph from 55.

Troopers said the inquiry was continuing and that more information would be issued when it became available.