Pond Eddy Bridge project begins

ANYA TIKKA
Posted 8/21/12

POND EDDY, NY — The construction of the new Pond Eddy Bridge, slated to open sometime in 2018, is underway. Heavy equipment is lining Route 97 near the existing bridge, and a new short access road …

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Pond Eddy Bridge project begins

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POND EDDY, NY — The construction of the new Pond Eddy Bridge, slated to open sometime in 2018, is underway. Heavy equipment is lining Route 97 near the existing bridge, and a new short access road is leading to the river landing. Both are constructed from large blocks of rock.

Traffic along 97 is restricted during the day, when the lanes are closed and opened on alternating sides to allow heavy trucks and excavators access to the riverbank building pad.

The construction will take place in stages: first extending halfway across the river from New York, then the other half from the Pennsylvania side, where the two sides will meet. The old bridge, which will stay open throughout the construction, will be taken down.

D.A. Collins Construction Project Manager Sarah Hill was busy overseeing the project, but sat down to talk to The River Reporter for a few moments.

“We’ve been here for two weeks now. The company is based just north of Saratoga. This is a decent-size job, about the size we normally do. We do normally bridges, road work, river work, pretty much anything that falls in the heavy highway category,” she said.

The New York side of the new bridge will be located on Route 97 across from Hollow Road, whereas the old bridge is located across from High Road.

“Right now we have probably about six workers onsite,” Hill said. “On an average day, six to 10. Some of them are locals.” She said that more will be added as the project progresses.

The employees who came from Syracuse live in a hotel at the moment, and for office space, the company just rented a disused restaurant close to the bridge.

About the locals, she said, “Everybody’s been great, and we’re really excited building the bridge.”

The construction has scraped out grass and put down rocks for the new access road and landing. When that’s done, they’ll start with the actual bridge.

Pond Eddy resident John Burrow stood on the existing bridge watching the construction.

He said he thought building the bridge was a good thing.

“The people who live there [on the Pennsylvania side] can have services like fuel gas, fire trucks, and school buses once the new bridge has been built. And it can bring more people here, too.”

In an area relying on tourism, he had a novel suggestion for the old bridge that’s doomed to be dismantled because no buyers came forward when it was advertised.

“They should make this like a park, like the Highline in New York City,” he suggested, “It’s been a huge success, and it would be an attraction for this area.”

Trees and grasses could be planted on the bridge once it’s closed for traffic, and it would be used just as a walkway and park area. You could fish from there, he added.

The new bridge is going to run about 65 feet upstream of the current bridge.

Burrows and others did wonder how the new bridge was going to be built, given the existing state of the fragile old bridge with limited carrying capacity. Heavy equipment will have to be brought to the other side in order to build the second half of the new bridge, and the Flagstone Road on the Pennsylvania side is very narrow. It borders the Delaware River on one side, and solid rock face on the other side.

Hill thought it was no big deal.

“We’ll do it,” she said, and also said the company does projects like the this all the time.

“We’ll build a road alongside the road, just like here,” she said pointing toward the New York side where the new access road and landing site have already been built for the construction vehicles.

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