TO: Batchellerville Bridge Action Committee Members
FROM: Peter VanAvery
DATE: January 16, 2003
Here is a summary of how the Batchellerville Bridge replacement project stands at the start of the new year:
Timetable: From Day One, the Department of Transportation has targeted 2004 for the launch of construction. DOT Project Manager George Hodges, Jr., has informed us that the project "remains on schedule for a construction start in the Spring of 2004 should the required funding become available."
Site Work: Last Fall, DOT crews began preliminary site work, drilling core samples on the opposite shores and taking to boats to map the topography of the lake bottom immediately south of the existing structure, where the new bridge will be built.
Emergency Repairs: Following a bridge inspection in October, DOT announced on November 20 that the bridge required an estimated $100,000 in emergency repairs and that they would begin immediately. The only other option was to reduce the weight limit for vehicles to 8 tons from the existing 15 tons (for which the bridge was designed), an option Edinburg Town Supervisor Jean Raymond termed "disastrous for the community." The repair project includes retrofitting steel plates to the structure at ten locations within a 1700-foot portion of the bridge. To accommodate this work, one lane of the bridge has had to be closed, with alternating one-way traffic across the bridge controlled by traffic lights at each end. Said a DOT spokesman: "We inspect the bridge every year, and until the new bridge is completed, repairs like this will be necessary, probably every two years. It is in an advanced state of deterioration. The steel members beneath the deck are corroding, and it's getting more and more difficult to support the posted weight limit. For now, however, it will remain posted as 15 tons. Hopefully, these repairs will last." Incidentally, the repair work is being handled by Delaney Construction of Mayfield, the company that proposes to build the controversial hot asphalt plant outside Northville.
Funding: In October, U.S. Rep. John Sweeney announced that the proposed 2003 Federal transportation budget would include $3 million toward the bridge replacement project. This is a start, but it amounts to only eight percent of the needed $36 million. The state will have to come up with the rest. How likely is that to happen soon? Your guess is as good as mine. For the current fiscal year, which ends April 1, the state is running a budget deficit of $2.5 billion. Projected state shortfall for next year: $10 billion. Incidentally, the state forfeited $36 million in Federal incentives by delaying adoption of a reduction in the legal blood-alcohol limit for driving while intoxicated from 0.10 percent to 0.08 percent. Thirty-one other states acted before we did. That is really frustrating. Meanwhile, Business Week magazine summed up the fiscal nightmare facing the nation in a single sentence: "The disappearance of a $5.7 trillion surplus overnight shows how little anyone really knows about the economy and budgets."
The Other Bridge: In 2001, Saratoga County announced that it would replace the 30-foot-long Batcheller Creek Bridge this year. The bridge carries South Shore Road (County Road 7) over the Batcheller Creek immediately south of the abutment to the Batchellerville Bridge. I will pass along information about the project and its impact on traffic flow as it becomes available.
I am very pleased to announce that the BBAC is one of two activist groups on the shores of the Great Sacandaga Lake singled out for recognition by the Adirondack Council for their contribution toward the long-term economic and environmental well-being of the Adirondack Park. The other group is the Sacandaga-Adirondack Alliance for Responsible Growth, based in Northville. We are two of the eight local environmental organizations featured in the new "A Tip of the Hat" section of the Adirondack Council's annual "State of the Park" report.
Reflecting a trend in the Adirondacks, the Adirondack Council launched this new section in its annual report to recognize "the work of small, grassroots organizations that have made a positive impact on their own corner of the Park." The Council is one of the most influential environmental organizations in the state. For example, on Earth Day last February, it hosted President Bush's visit to the High Peaks region of the Park, where he made history by being the first President to speak about acid rain in the Adirondacks and the first President to propose a comprehensive legislative solution.
The citation for the BBAC reads: "A group of Great Sacandaga Lake shoreline owners have joined forces to create the Batchellerville Bridge Action Committee in the northern Saratoga County Town of Edinburg. The BBAC helped to persuade the Dept. of Transportation to limit the size of the replacement bridge across the lake to 42' high, down from 55'. The new size limit would prevent the bridge from blocking views and spreading light pollution."
The citation for SAARG reads: "A new group calling itself the Sacandaga-Adirondack Alliance for Responsible Growth has formed in northern Fulton County in response to a proposal to build an asphalt plant adjacent to the Village of Northville. Its members are keeping pressure on the state to require a public hearing and perform a thorough review of the proposal's impact on surrounding residents, businesses and natural resources."
The other six local organizations recognized in the Adirondack Council's "State of the Park 2002" report are the Adirondack Cooperative Loon Program, the Fund for Lake George, the Residents' Committee to Protect the Adirondacks, the White Lake Association, the Pilot Knob Association, and the legion of fire-fighting volunteers (including local prison inmates) who risked their lives to combat a rash of wild fires in the Park this summer, touched off by drought.
With 18,000 members, the Adirondack Council is the largest environmental organization focusing solely on Adirondack issues. The privately funded, not-for-profit organization is dedicated to protecting and enhancing the natural character and human communities of the Adirondack Park through research, education, advocacy and legal action. A copy of the 16-page, four-color "State of the Park 2002" report is available free by calling the Adirondack Council at 1-800-842-PARK.