May 27, 2003

Who Owns the Batchellerville Bridge?

The following letter was published in the Amsterdam Recorder, the Glens Falls Post-Star, the Gloversville Leader-Herald, and the Schenectady Daily Gazette.

Dear Editor:

Imagine you are driving across the Batchellerville Bridge and it collapses, plunging you into Great Sacandaga Lake. Whom would your survivors sue? Who owns the bridge?

Not us, says the Hudson River-Black River Regulating District, which in 1930 completed construction of the bridge and the flood-control reservoir it crosses. It claims it transferred ownership to the state Department of Transportation.

Not us, says DOT. It admits it has kept the bridge under repair over the years, but no documentation exists to prove that the Regulating District gave the bridge to the state.

Not us, says Saratoga County. Although County Route 98 crosses the bridge, the county argues that its responsibility ends with maintaining the roadbed and keeping it plowed in winter.

The ownership issue has baffled DOT ever since it launched plans to replace the bridge more than four years ago. As a result, the structure has become a mind-numbing symbol of the wheel-spinning and buck-passing that paralyze our governing bodies.

Fortunately, a tool exists that can solve this problem. It is called "logic." If the Regulating District built the bridge and can't prove it gave the structure to the state, guess what? The Regulating District owns the bridge! In fact, its own handbook brags: "No state or federal tax dollars have ever been used to operate the system or maintain its facilities."

Although the Regulating District is operated under state control, its funding comes from downstream property owners and municipalities that benefit from taming the Sacandaga River. Unlike the state, which faces a budget crisis, the District has deep pockets. Just consider Erie Boulevard Hydropower, operator of the hydro plant at the Conklingville Dam. Erie is a division of Reliant Resources, Inc., a company with $775 million in income over the past two years.

One bridge lane has been closed since last November while DOT searches for $150,000 for repairs. Nor does DOT have the $36 million needed to replace the bridge. Under no circumstances should DOT allow the Regulating District to load this white elephant onto the backs of the state's taxpayers!

Peter VanAvery
Edinburg, NY