BRIDGES CONTINUE TO CRUMBLE

Mike McCagg
ccSCOOP News

07-15-10. - The latest evidence of the state’s crumbling infrastructure can be found in Hudson where twice in a little more than a month, the main entrance to the Hudson waterfront has been closed and reopened after temporary repairs.

The wood floored Ferry Street Bridge had several broken planks, making it dangerous to cross, and as such, was closed during the Fourth of July holiday weekend, Hudson Mayor Rick Scalera told ccSCOOP. It reopened just this past week after fixes were made by CSX, but the fixes are far from the final answer for the crumbling span.

As reported by ccSCOOP in November ("County Bridges Falling Down?"), the bridge was one of a dozen classified last winter as significantly deficient last year by New York State Department of Transportation (DOT) standards, a report obtained by ccSCOOP at the time found. At the time of the report, the bridge had a state rating of 3.5 rating, well below the 5 threshold set by the state as meeting standards. A rating of 7 is the gold standard assigned to new bridges.

The 11 other bridges in Columbia County are located in Claverack, Ancram, Chatham, Copake and Greenport. Below is a listing of the bridges and their ratings. The vast majority of those bridges have been classified structurally deficient, meaning they require significant maintenance and repair to remain in service.

Scalera said the Ferry Street Bridge closing over the holiday weekend followed the discovery of several broken planks on the bridge.  “With all of the boats and heavy traffic going down there, several of the planks just broke,” said the mayor. The bridge was also closed as a result of broken planks in the week preceding the Flag Day celebration at the waterfront.

“(At that time) we called CSX and they came down and did a band aid approach until Flag Day. They ‘cob jobbed’ it up as best you can. We were able to open it up again, but it is just an old bridge,” said the mayor.

City officials have fought for some time to have the 100-year-old bridge replaced. Last year, First Ward Supervisor John Musall and Scalera sought federal American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (stimulus) funds for the Ferry Street bridge after finding CSX unwilling to replace the span. The project did not receive stimulus funds.

An inspection by city officials last year found other planks to be broken and steel beams to be rusted, but CSX officials determined that the rusted beams were not load bearing and thus did not need to be replaced.

“We have been trying for some time to get CSX officials to take it seriously,” said Scalera. “Many years, the bridge it was downgraded from 15 tons to 5 tons and it is only getting worse.”

The mayor said the city has enlisted the help of U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, who was in the city for the Flag Day celebration and was shown the bridge by city leaders.

“He investigated the bridge and he concurred that it needed immediate attention,” said Scalera.

The repeated closing of the bridge is not only a nuisance, but also a safety threat. Emergency vehicles rely on the bridge to access water for fires in the region and to access the waterfront for boat emergencies or water emergencies. Additionally, with the amount of train traffic, using the at-grade crossing on Water Street is a safety issue.
“It’s not the scenario to have all of that traffic have only one entrance and exit to the waterfront and that is crossing a train track,” said Scalera.

“With the attention that Schumer is going to give it and his office, I think you see some attention on this bridge finally,” said Scalera.