RAILROAD BRIDGE REPLACEMENT COSTS A VEXING PROBLEM

Mike McCagg ccSCOOP News As municipalities are attempting to find a solution to the fiscal crisis, many with rail lines are facing yet another problem: what to do with crumbling bridges across railroad tracks. Although the bridges were constructed to provide a safe means for cars and trucks to cross the tracks without impeding the movement of the trains, railroad giant CSX maintains that the bridges are the sole responsibility of local taxpayers to replace.

“CSX doesn’t care if the bridge falls down, as long as it doesn’t interrupt their train traffic,” Chatham Supervisor Jesse DeGroodt said. That leaves taxpayers footing the bill for the project.

In Chatham, where the Town Board last year explored numerous cost-saving options, including reducing the frequency of snow plowing to reduce the tax levy increase down to 24 percent, the town is facing a cost of at least $125,000 and perhaps as much as $225,000 to replace the bridge over railroad tracks on White Mills Road, DeGroodt said. The overall cost of the replacement project is expected to be $2.035 million, with the federal and state government combining to pay the bulk of the bill. The bridge has been closed for more than a year and the replacement date has been repeatedly shifted by the state and federal governments.

"It’s a sensitive topic. We have been working on this for years and not getting anywhere,” said the supervisor. The town first sought funding approval to replace the bridge in the early 2000s and received the approval in 2005. The start of the project has been delayed as the federal government shifted the funding date. At present, it is targeted for replacement in 2012.

"The bridge is in hideous shape. I am hoping [the state] will move it up to next year," said DeGroodt. With the closure of the bridge, local residents have been forced to drive miles out of their way—often using High Bridge Road as a detour— adding time and fuel costs to their trips. DeGroodt said the town “would move some things around” in its budget to fund its share of the project, if the federal and state government decided to begin the project sooner. But the bridge on White Mills Road is only one railroad bridge project the town must address.

A second bridge on Albany Turnpike in East Chatham is quickly deteriorating and in need of replacement, the supervisor said. The 100-year-old span is completely rusted and deteriorating. This replacement project  has not yet been funded and the work is not on anyone’s calendar, DeGroodt said. “But it is in need of repair.”

In 2005, the project was estimated to cost $3.5 million, but that figure has likely increased over the past four years.

Though the town applied in 2005 for federal and state aid to fund its replacement, no funding has been allocated.