After a wait of almost six months, Bridge Street is open to traffic into the hamlet of Phoenicia after it was closed due to damage from flooding in early April.
When the Esopus Creek overflowed from heavy rainfall and snow melt on April 3 and 4 raging waters poured over the Bridge Street span taking out the guardrails and seriously bending the I-beams that held the bridge up.
The bridge is a vital access to Phoenicia drawing traffic from Route 28. With the closing of the bridge, one of the ways into and out of Phoenicia was cut, This caused thousands of untold motorists to bypass Phoenicia which had an effect on area businesses.
The bridge was the responsibility of Ulster County. When first closed, there were no plans to immediately reopen the bridge since there were other ways into and out of Phoenicia. Besides, county officials had their hands full with other projects related to April’s flooding.
But Ulster County Legislature Majority Leader Mike Stock (R-Woodstock) who represents the town of Shandaken sought to convince county officials to reopen the bridge with the assistance of fellow District 2 Legislator Brian Shapiro (D-Woodstock)
By fabricating the I-beams at the county’s bridge fabrication facility on Van Dale Road in West Hurley, the county was able to do the job mostly with it’s own workers. While the steel was being fabricated, workers chipped up the concrete deck and removed the bent I-beams.
The new I-beams were installed with the help of a heavy lifting crane hired for the job. With the new beams in place, metal was installed over the beams to hold the concrete that was poured about a month ago. (It takes concrete a minimum of 30 days to cure enough to support traffic.)
While the original plans called for the bridge to be open by early July, those predictions proved to be far too optimistic. Even though the bridge was deemed unsafe for traffic, it was extremely difficult to tear down. Ironically, the county had more construction vehicles on the bridge than the maximum amount of traffic could have ever generated. But rules are rules and the bent I-beams called for the “red-flagging” of the span.
On hand for an impromptu ribbon cutting ceremony Tuesday afternoon, Stock commended the work of the county employees who braved the extreme heat and humidity to do the dirty work throughout the summer.
He commended County Highways and Bridges Commissioner David Sheeley and Section Supervisors Joseph Nalepa and James Cannizzaro for a job well done.
“This work is being paid for by FEMA,” said Stock referring to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Stock said he wanted to make sure his fellow legislator Brian Shapiro received credit even though he was unable to attend the ribbon cutting ceremony. Stock said partisan politics had no place in projects such as this.
“We are elected to serve all the people, regardless of party affiliation,” said Stock. “Credit where credit is due.”
“We are delighted to have this bridge open again,” said Supervisor Stock. “Now we can breathe a collective sigh of relief that the job is finally done.”