Clinton County Archives - Page 12 of 13 - Keeseville's Historic Bridges

Clinton County Update

By matt | August 14, 2020 | Comments 0 Comment

AUG 14, 2020 —

Today we spent almost two hours with Clinton County Highway Supervisor Karl Wiess and Rob Timmons from the Clinton County Transportation Committee. They were tremendously helpful today, and we thank them very much for their time. Also joining us today was Clayton Barber, Sandy Senecal, and Steven Englehart.

SWING BRIDGE

We discussed the current status of the Swing Bridge and the 2018 RIT assessment of the bridge. Karl was great to have today because his engineer eyes see things from a different prospective. He pointed out some issues to be address such as the sinkhole, and proper drainage, as well as insight to how much it would best guess cost to paint and restore the Swing Bridge.

UPPER BRIDGE

I was given the chance to discuss the Upper Bridge as a member of the community. They were very open to hearing what I had to say. We discussed who owned the Bridges, Who is responsible for maintenance, and we discussed the Historical importance of the three bridges in town as a group. We presented our four areas of concern 1) History 2) Tourism 3) Supporting Local Business 4) Traffic Safety concerns.
We discussed opening up as a pedestrian bridge. If that were to happen the decking would need to be replaced, fix structural issues, and new railings put in that are much higher. The original plans for the 2008 renovation called for a pedestrian walkway to be installed on the side of the bridge to meet regulations.

ARCH BRIDGE

We discussed briefly the current plans to make the arch bridge a no weight limit bridge. I expressed that most people in town have mentioned to me they do not support his. Nor do they support a four way flashing red light at the intersection.

OLD STATE ROAD BRIDGE

Out of all the bridges, the Old State Road seems to be in the worst condition. Karl showed me the stringers on the bridge, and that you could see through holes with some of them. We talked restoration, bridge replacement, and opening for pedestrians. With the current status of the bridge, it’s going to be quite difficult to open for pedestrians as it is a liability. We also talked about bridge removal and putting up observation stations on each side. I expressed that I don’t think that would be a good solution because the real view is from the middle of that bridge.
The general theme from the County officials is that there is no money currently. I explained I certainly understand that, and that now would be a good time to start planning and come up with some solutions.

DONATIONS

I asked for their opinion on where donations would best be served. Unfortunately that is a difficult question to answer because studies would need to be done on all the bridges, which is very expensive to begin with. Until we have real numbers to work with, I’m not comfortable asking for donations.

THANK YOU

Thank You Karl, Rob, Sandy, Clayton, and Steve for joining me today. Now that we have heard prospectives from Clinton County, we hope to eventually do the same with Essex County Officials soon. We aren’t intending to make life difficult for anyone, we are just trying to preserve Keeseville’s Heritage.

I think once Essex County officials meet with me, they will realize what my real intentions are. To put a stop to the removal of the Upper Bridge, and to begin talks at the County Level for solutions of how to restore and reopen these bridges in the future before it is too late. Plan now, act at a later time. We need support from the County and we are trying to build those connections. Thank you again to everyone who joined us.

Lots of Progress and Pressure!

By matt | August 13, 2020 | Comments 0 Comment

AUG 13, 2020 —

TOWN OF AUSABLE

Tonight the town of Ausable voted unanimously yes to the “Save Keeseville’s Historic Bridges” campaign. Thank you Supervisor Sandy Senecal and the rest of the Town board for their support.

TOWN OF CHESTERFIELD

This morning Supervisor Barber in the Town of Chesterfield made some phone calls to stop the removal of the Upper Bridge. He also forwarded our calls for progress to be made including looking in to the possibility of opening the Upper Bridge and Old State Road Bridge to pedestrians first, before we fix the bridges for vehicle traffic.

FOIL REQUESTS

Over the weekend I requested any and all documents in regards to ALL of Keeseville’s Historic Bridges from both Clinton County and Essex County. This is to include any studies done on the bridges by engineers, and any information in regards to what happened to the 2.1 Million Dollar grant awarded to Essex County.

Both Counties have responded appropriately and will be in touch with me in regards to how to get that information to me.

PUSH BACK AND MAJOR OBSTACLES

NO WEIGHT LIMIT ON NEW COUNTY BRIDGES

There is a major push right now for counties to build bridges with no weight limits. We certainly understand the need for this. However, there is an exception to every rule, and our historic bridges, especially the story behind all of them together as a group should make an exception to that rule.

NOW IS NOT THE TIME

Another common misconception is “Now is not the time” considering the pandemic and Covid-19. Our response is, we didn’t have a choice as our bridge was scheduled to be removed. Also, we are not expecting trucks to show up tomorrow and fix them. What we are calling for is for both counties to come up with a PLAN to fix and maintain these bridges. THEN when grants become available again, we won’t have to start the process, the agreements will be made and the proper paperwork filled out.

RAISING TAXES

Don’t fall for this. With grants the county is only responsible for the remaining 20% of the repairs. In certain cases DOT will pay 15% and the County 5%. Now, since both Counties are responsible for maintenance on our bridges it could be done like this:

Essex County 5%

Essex County DOT Region 1 – 5%

Clinton County 5%

Clinton County DOT Region 7- 5%

FUND RAISING EFFORTS

Many people have asked if we are fund raising. The answer is not yet. We are waiting for exact numbers on how much things will cost to repair. We may do a fund raising campaign in the future once we know for sure what we can and can not do.

CLINTON COUNTY TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE

Two members of the Clinton County Transportation Committee will touring the bridges this up and coming week. I’ve also invited Highway superintendent Karl Weiss and Jim Dougan to take a tour with us. I’ve actually invited every county official I can think of to come visit the bridges and take a walk with me.

HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENTS

Both Highway superintendents have been great resources as to what obstacles we face and are both open to suggestions. My whole approach is to build support with our county officials and work together to make things happen.

WHAT IS PROGRESS?

Progress comes in many ways. What we really want to hear as far as progress is:

1) The Upper Bridge will not be removed (In Writing)

2) Counties will give estimates on how much opening to pedestrians would cost

3) Counties in support of coming up with a plan now to be ahead of the game for when grants become available.

4) Bridges shored up/repaired to allow for pedestrian use.

PEDESTRIAN USE OF BRIDGES

One obstacle for allowing pedestrians to use the bridges is if a large number of pedestrians use the bridge at one time it weighs more than a car and could cause damage or collapse of the bridge.

This is certainly reasonable to understand. What can we do to allow for pedestrian traffic. This is where a fund raiser may come in handy in the future. We just need the counties to work with us and think creatively.

Thank you for your support and all you do.

Look for the Press Republican Article

By matt | August 7, 2020 | Comments 0 Comment

AUG 7, 2020 —

Check the Press Republican on Saturday! Our article should be released then! Stay tuned for other press releases!

TOWN OF AUSABLE

Today I spoke to Town of Ausable Supervisor Sandy Senecal. She had no knowledge that the upper bridge was scheduled to be removed. (This was confirmed by Essex County about two weeks ago). Sandy has expressed her full support in saving our historic bridges. She also mentioned to me that the property directly across from the town of Ausable near the walking bridge does not belong to the town, but will be owned by the town in the near future. Once they retain ownership, there won’t be liability or insurance issues and the entrance to the bridge will have trees and bushes removed so that it can be seen again. I also mentioned the very large tree on the Ausable side that has grown up and above the bridge. If that tree trunk were to fall, it would take out the bridge. Hopefully that tree will be taken down before more issues arise. More progress! I will be speaking at the Town of Ausable this Wednesday at 6:45p.m.

CLINTON COUNTY HIGHWAY SUPERVISOR

I also spoke to Clinton County Highway Supervisor Karl Weiss. He was a wealth of information on past project issues, and current projects in the works. The Swing Bridge is not inspected by DOT because it is considered a walkway not a bridge. It’s usually inspected every other year, but it’s last report was done in 2014, with some minor yellow flags sent to be addressed before they become bigger issues. Karl became superintendent in 2019 and is looking into what to do. There are various avenues he can take to get issues addressed. He also gave me information on some people that I can talk with to gain support. The Clinton County Transportation meeting was cancelled for August, so I intend to be at the meeting in September. In the mean time, I’m going to invite some Clinton County officials to come walk the bridges and discuss. It turns out Essex County has helped Clinton county with cost of repairs in the past for certain bridges, and it is a good talking point to get Clinton County to help Essex County. Not only are we dealing with Two Townships, and Two Counties, but we are also dealing with two different DOT regions making things even more complicated. Essex County is Region 1 and Clinton County is Region 7.

Stay tuned for an important update in regards to the Swing Bridge.

WHAT’S NEXT?

My plan is to contact Region 1 and Region 7 DOT and find out who I should speak with, and send them the information on the bridges and why they are important. I’m also Trying to gain support from highway superintendents and other important county officials by inviting them to take a walk through with me and others that are involved with the project.

It’s not enough to just come look at a bridge and say it isn’t needed without actually hearing from locals and town officials on why it is important. Clinton County officials were asked by the town of Ausable to do a walk through years ago with Sandy Senecal. The officials came to do a walk through but never stopped in the Town of Ausable office. They later made a decision with no input from locals.

OLD STATE ROAD BRIDGE AT AUSABLE CHASM

I heard the story today in regards to the bridge on the old state road. It was set to be repaired years and years ago. There was a lead engineer who wanted it to be done a certain way, and others didn’t agree to it. It led to everyone digging their feet in the ground and nothing getting done. More politics that need to be put aside. This is the dialog that we hope to change to get our bridges open again!

ASSEMBLYMEMBER DAN STEC

Thursday, New York Assemblymember Dan Stec visited our Historic Bridges! We walked the suspension bridge, and took a look at the Upper Bridge and Arch bridge. We then drove to the old state road bridge and what he described as “One of the best views in New York” at AuSable Chasm.

Thank you Mr. Stec for taking the time to visit our community and our cause. Thank you supervisor Clayton Barber and Councilman Gload, as well as Steve and Nolan from AARCH for also being there. Oh and we hit 1000 signatures as we walked yesterday!

Thank you again for supporting our Historic Bridges.