LEADER-HERALD
Gloversville, NY
March 25, 2005

State, county debate ownership of Batchellerville Bridge

By JUSTIN MASON The Leader-Herald

EDINBURG - As winter's ice melts from around the concrete pylons of the deteriorating Batchellerville Bridge, state and county officials continue to disagree about who's responsible for the aging structure's replacement.

For nearly five years, officials from the state Department of Transportation and Saratoga County have considered a $36 million project to build a new bridge, but there's no legal or historic precedence for who owns the old one.

"Throughout the years, the jurisdictional question has come up, and it's the state's viewpoint that it's not our bridge," said Peter VanKeuren, a regional spokesman for the state Transportation Department. "We're trying to come to some kind of determination so that we can move forward."

Because it's located nearly 8 miles away from the nearest state highway, VanKeuren said the "pin and hanger"-style bridge is technically under the jurisdiction of Saratoga County, even though it was built by the Hudson River-Black River Regulating District - an authority of the state - shortly after the reservoir was created in 1930.

The bridge is still posted at 15 tons, VanKeuren said, meaning that an estimated daily traffic flow of 2,000 vehicles can safely traverse its 3,000-foot-long expanse. During the summer, he said tourist traffic can easily triple that number.

But if future studies determine the bridge to be in worse shape than expected, VanKeuren said certain larger vehicles, such as certain emergency vehicles and school buses, would be prohibited from using it.

"It's not that (the bridge) is in bad shape, it's that it's in deteriorating shape," he said.

Over the years, VanKeuren said the state has aided work on the bridge on a "need- be-necessary" basis. Most recently, Saratoga County funded a $125,000 repair project - completed in July 2003 - which was later reimbursed by the state.

Ultimately, VanKeuren said, it will be up to the Saratoga County government to lead the way in constructing a replacement.

But state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, disagrees with this assertion, said spokesman Mark Hansen.

"It's our position that it's the state's bridge, not Saratoga County's," he said.

Because a state entity originally built the bridge, Hansen said the senator feels it should be under state jurisdiction. If this is determined to be the case, he said funding for a new bridge possibly could be allocated from the $2.9 billion Transportation Bond Act, which is part of this year's proposed state budget.

"The bottom line is that we want to have a safe bridge," he said.

Overseeing one township located near the bridge, Edinburg Town Supervisor Jean Raymond would like the project to move forward, but said there's little that can be done until a funding source is found.

"I think we're all in agreement that we want it to come to a conclusion," she said.

Raymond insists that discussions over the bridge's ownership isn't adversarial. Instead, she said the jurisdictional dilemma is more a result of both government entities trying to weed through legal and historic precedent regarding this unique situation.

"All of the discussion that I've had certainly indicates to me a cooperative spirit," she said. "I have every confidence that things will move forward."

If anything is to happen with the bridge project, the responsibility would fall on Saratoga County, said Richard Lefebvre, executive director of the regulating district.

"Certainly, the state has been involved in all the designing and hearings that have happened up to this point," he said.

Originally, the district had proposed a ferry service before the valley was flooded, Lefebvre said, which was vehemently opposed by the townships around the lake. So after the regulating district constructed the bridge and all the roads around the lake, he said control over both was handed over to the counties.

"We fulfilled our responsibility of building the roads and bridge," he said. "Since then, they've been (in) the hands of the counties."

In less than six months, the bridge is scheduled to undergo its biannual evaluation by the Transportation Department. By that time, Raymond hopes that the ownership issue can be resolved so that the project can move forward. Until Congress can reauthorize the six-year Transportation Equity Act, there's not real push behind such an expensive project because it will require federal funding.

"There hasn't been a huge push because, frankly, there hasn't been any funding," she said.

"This is an (expensive) project and it's going to take federal money."

However, for lake residents who travel across the bridge each day, waiting for the funding isn't a pleasant option. Peter Van Avery, co-founder of the Batchellerville Bridge Action Committee, wants work to begin on a new bridge before more repairs need to be done to the old one.

"It's not in great shape," he said, adding that the bridge's diminishing quality is evident looking from beneath it. "(The Transportation Department) and the county have really been struggling to keep it repaired over the past few years."

But with the replacement project's steep cost, VanAvery said neither government entity is stepping forward to take the lead, which has stymied any developments on the project that was originally slated to begin sometime last year.

"It's a buck passing," VanAvery said about the bridge ownership dilemma. "It's an unfortunate situation and one would hope that it'd be resolved soon."

Since the project's inception nearly five years ago, controversy has swirled around the bridge. Residents along the lake bitterly argued over an initial design that proposed an arched bridge with a 55-foot clearance in the center during normal water levels.

Some residents said the design would pose an eyesore, while others argued for the high clearance to allow sailboats to pass through to the northern region of the lake.

In March 2002, the Transportation Department opted for a design providing for a 42-foot arch at the bridge's apex.