Crown Point bridge needs to be replaced
Governor Paterson's office just sent out this release. Brian Mann is at a public meeting today and will have more on All Before Five and The 8 O'Clock Hour. Here's the heart of the matter:
An underwater inspection of the bridge’s concrete piers and underlying foundations found cracks and significant deterioration in the unreinforced concrete substructures well below the water level that render these supports so fragile that a sudden collapse could occur.
“Safety was our primary concern when we closed the Lake Champlain Bridge last month and it is our chief interest now,” Governor Paterson said. “We must make a decision that protects those who cross the bridge, as well as workers and engineers, and therefore we have no choice but to tear down the dangerously deteriorated bridge. Both states are committed to moving quickly to reestablish the critical link by building a new bridge in this corridor to serve commuters, farms and businesses.”
posted by David Sommerstein @ 11/09/2009 03:12:00 PM
4 Comments
4 Comments:
who is responsible for letting this bridge deteriate? And is anyone going to be held accountable? I have family in Vermont and it si inconvenient to have to take the ferry when i drive over there.
The astonishing thing is that over about 2 months at most the bridge went from "old but safe," to "only one lane" to "need to cose temporarily for repairs," to closed long term for repairs" to "needs to be torn down."
No engineering types have difficulty figuring that progression out.
From what we are told, this is a safety and economic emergency. I hope those who are impacted the most are helped in tangible ways in a timely manner. I also understand state and federal budgets are basically broke. BUT PLEASE, don't build just a boring I-beam-on-concrete-piers bridge. Build something that has some element of design beyond mere utility.
The cost of doing the proper maintenance on this bridge over the years would probably have been expensive, but I'd be willing to bet that the maintenance costs would have been significantly less than building a whole new bridge... and we'd still have something of architectural and aesthetic value. Now we have to throw it away and start over.
As there continues to be a call for building the rooftop highway I can only point to the Crown Point bridge. If NYS can't find the money to maintain a critically important bridge, where are we going to come up with the cost of building a folly like I-98, much less take care of it. Proper upgrades to Route 11 maybe, but not dumping a huge sum of money into an all new piece of infrastructure when we have so much infrastructure already in place that requires a continued investment to keep it in good shape... something that we are obviously not doing well.
The 1000 Islands bridge is almost as old as the Crown Point bridge and that has been well maintained and is still in good shape. Let's get serious about properly fixing and maintaining what we've already got before striking out on building more new (very expensive) infrastructure.
Mark, Saranac Lake
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