A representative of the State Department of Transportation’s Construction Division told ccSCOOP on Tuesday that bids for the project will be sought starting in July 2009 and construction is scheduled to be completed by June 30, 2011.

Bill Gorton, with the Department of Transportation’s Engineering Office, said the rehabilitation work will include a new deck on the bridge and re-paving the span. Some structural steel will be replaced, and the entire bridge will be repainted. The project had been in the works but was not scheduled to begin for some time, Gorton said. The release of the stimulus funds allows the project to begin this year and to create jobs—a key goal of the stimulus funds.

“Any work we put out creates jobs. . . . As a result of the stimulus funds, we were able to advance the work ahead of schedule and get these jobs out there,” said Gorton.

The other federal stimulus projects in the Hudson Valley include two in Dutchess County—the construction of a new park-and-ride lot on Route 199 in the Town of Rhinebeck and the rehabilitation of a bridge in Dover—and several projects in Westchester County.

Officials said the bridge project will be combined for the bidding process with the park-and-ride lot project and a third project to build an emergency turnaround on the Taconic Parkway. By combining the projects, contractors can continue to work during periods when weather may not permit work on the bridge to go forward.