EDINBURG-With approval for $20 million in additional funding for the replacement of the Batchellerville Bridge, the state Department of Transportation expects to open bidding for the project May 6 with construction to begin this summer.
The Capital District Transportation Committee unanimously voted to approve the funding at its Policy Committee meeting Thursday.
Built in 1930, the bridge spans 3,078 feet and carries Saratoga County Route 98 over the Great Sacandaga Lake connecting the north and south shores of the town.
The state had already allocated $39 million in federal funding to replace the bridge and solicited bids in November 2008 for the project. The cheapest of the two bids that came in was $64 million, delaying the project until the state could come up with less expensive designs.
Town Supervisor Jean Raymond said she's relieved to see a nearly 20-year effort to replace the bridge come to fruition.
"We've been working aggressively on this since about the mid-1990s," Raymond said.
Some alternative designs for the piers on the new bridge that will span from Wessels Road easterly to South Shore Road and a new disposal plan for the old bridge that would allow concrete portions to be dropped into the lake lowered the cost of the project, Raymond said.
Federal, state and local agencies worked on developing more cost-efficient designs for the bridge, according to a news release from the DOT.
"I can't even begin to describe how I feel," Raymond said. "This is the survival of our community. It's really going to be OK. We're going to survive - that's how serious it would have been if the bridge was not replaced."
Raymond noted that without grassroots efforts from community groups the project may have never moved forward.
Peter Van Avery co-founded the Batchellerville Bridge Action Committee in 2001, which has urged the 4,650 property owners who hold access permits on the Great Sacandaga Lake to write and call their representatives to move the project forward.
"We can't wait to hear the bulldozers and machines come down here," Van Avery said. "It would be devastating if the project didn't go through because it would have cut the folks on the south shore off from schools and even the nearest grocery store."
Van Avery said the deteriorating bridge impacted not only the town, but the county and state also as it connected Saratoga County to the state Adirondack Park.
"The state spends millions on the "I Love New York" campaign, but what's the sense of that if you make it difficult for people to get into the Adirondacks. The Great Sacandaga Lake is one of the jewels of [the state]," he said.
Raymond said she wasn't surprised to hear of the committee's decision Thursday since the funding recommendation came through the CDTC Planning Committee last month.
In October, the Bridge of Life Committee - comprised of the town Emergency Squad and Volunteer Fire Company - hosted a drill of response to a mock structure fire on South Shore Road, 2.9 miles north of the Batchellerville Bridge.
While the total mileage from the fire station to the site of the mock fire was 5 miles, it took responders more than 20 minutes to get to the scene because the bridge had been blocked off to one lane in August. With a 15-ton limit, the firefighters couldn't bring a full tanker truck across the bridge, according to information on the Great Sacandaga Lake Association's Web site.
An average of 2,100 vehicles cross the Batchellerville Bridge daily, according to a news release from the DOT.
Like the Crown Point bridge, which was rated at 3.375 and closed by the DOT, the Batchellerville Bridge is labeled structurally deficient and has a lower rating at 3.085. On the scale of 1 to 7, a condition rating of 5 to 7 is good; a rating lower than 5 is considered deficient.
The targeted completion date of the new bridge is some time in early 2012, according to a news release from the DOT.
Amanda Whistle can be reached by e-mail at montco@leaderherald.com