What’s up with the Shady Tree Lane bridge?
That’s a good question.
And the answer is:
Not much.
Cobleskill’s Quarry Street bridge will be closed for repairs and rehab likely until the middle of August, Highway Superintendent Mike Persons said Monday.
“It’s kind of like working on an old house,” Mr. Persons told Supervisor Leo McAllister and councilmen. “You don’t know what you have until it’s opened up,” though the decking was replaced in 2011 post-Hurricane Irene.
Federal CHiPS money will pay for the work; the bridge—technically a box culvert, something that makes it Cobleskill’s responsibility and not Schoharie County DPW’s—will be closed from both the Pine Street and North Grand Street ends.
The Quarry Street bridge discussion prompted questions about the long-awaited replacement of the Shady Tree Lane bridge in Barnerville, which finally got underway this spring—and then stopped.
Both Mr. Persons and Mr. McAllister said they’ve talked with DPW Commissioner Dan Crandall about the stalled job and the need for a Plan B.
Apparently, when crews tried to drill down through the rock to set the piles, they couldn’t, Mr. Persons said, bending the piles, breaking their machines, and shutting the project down.
State DOT designed the project and now DPW’s trying to sort things out with DOT’s engineers.
Mr. McAllister said he’s getting nervous, afraid funding for the project will go somewhere else if the delay goes on too long.
“I’m not very happy right now,” he said. “It was supposed to be done in August. Right now it’s all on the state’s shoulders…”