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February 15, 2008

Bridge replacement could be costly

By JACOB RESNECK

Contributing Writer



LAKE PLACID — A new bridge connecting the famed Adirondack Loj trailhead with Route 73 could cost the Town of North Elba more than a million dollars.

Since the previous bridge was deemed unsafe more than a year ago, Adirondack Loj Road has been accessible by a temporary steel bridge over North Meadow Brook, on loan from the Essex County Department of Public Works.

The county stepped in with the one-lane span that had previously been used in Jay.

That was only a temporary solution, County Public Works Superintendent Fred Buck said in a Feb. 6 letter to North Elba Supervisor Roby Politi.

He wrote that if the town doesn’t progress with securing a new bridge of its own, the county’s bridge could be removed and used for a “more urgent county project.”

“I’m not trying to box them in a corner,” Buck said in an interview. “I just want to see that the project moves forward. I understand the town is seeking funding for it.”

Politi said he understands the county is serious. He’s been on the phone to Albany looking for grant money.

“Obviously, the bridge needs to be replaced,” Politi said. “But if I’m going to replace it, I have to do what is economically feasible for the community.”

He estimates that 95 percent of the traffic is to and from the Adirondack Mountain Club’s High Peaks Information Center, one of the most popular and most central trailheads in the Adirondack Park.

Adirondack Mountain Club Executive Director Neil Woodworth said his organization sympathizes with the town.

“We recognize that it’s a burden on the Town of North Elba,” Woodworth said. “We support the town in urging the state to take over the bridge. The traffic on that road is equivalent to a state highway.”

The State Department of Transportation’s position is it doesn’t have the authority to maintain or replace bridges on a town-owned road like this one.

“There isn’t a mechanism that we can use other than a state politico getting involved,” said Peter Van Keuren, DOT regional spokesman in Schenectady.

The Town Council discussed solutions this week with several possible scenarios. Preliminary estimates have put the cost between $600,000 and more than $1.2 million.

“The first thing is we would try to look for grant monies and, if grant monies aren’t available, we would have to consider other alternatives,” said Politi.

One alternative suggested at the meeting would be to charge a toll to cross the 100-foot span over North Meadow Brook.

It likely would be a contentious solution, especially since visitors to Adirondack Loj already pay $8 for parking at the popular trailhead.

Town Attorney Ronald Briggs said a toll road would be impossible without special legislation in Albany.

Still, with only eight taxpaying landowners on the road, the Adirondack Mountain Club included, Politi doesn’t think it fair for the full amount to be put on the shoulders of town taxpayers.

“I think the state of New York and especially the Adirondack Mountain Club have a stake in what happens to the road and to the bridge,” he said.

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