The people of the Champlain Valley are remarkably nice.
The state permanently closed the Champlain Bridge that was their conduit to employment and medical care, then blew it up, and people seem to hold no grudges.
It's been a year since the vital link between New York and Vermont was closed.
A recent rally in observance of the closing brought out 60 people who talked about hardships and the future, but didn't express any bitterness toward the agency that shuttered the bridge.
The New York State Department of Transportation abruptly closed the bridge, on Oct. 16, 2009, after severe cracks were found in its support pillars. The New York City company hired to assess the damage said it was too dangerous to repair the pillars because they might collapse at any time.
The DOT then hired the same company to design the new bridge. The Champlain Bridge, built in 1929, was destroyed by explosive charges on Dec. 29, 2009.
Now, construction on the $70 million project is under way where the old bridge stood, with completion projected for fall 2011.
A free ferry runs 24 hours a day next to the bridge site, which is a lot less harrowing than the detours and seasonal ferries people had to use in the months after the bridge closed.
No one from the DOT was at the observance over the weekend, and no one asked the obvious questions about why the Champlain Bridge wasn't kept in good repair to begin with.
Those questions have been asked in the past, and the DOT says maintenance was done on the bridge right along. But the rapid wear of the pillars below the water line wasn't expected, and that's what happened.
The pillars were inspected a couple of years before the bridge was closed and showed a small amount of damage. When they were inspected again last year, deterioration was significant. So bad, in fact, that the DOT said it had to order the bridge closed that day.
All sorts of reasons have been offered for the rapid deterioration, including the increasing use of heavy tankers to haul manure over the bridge from Vermont dairy farms to New York fields for spreading.
Work on the new bridge is coming along close to schedule, despite some difficulties drilling into bedrock and pumping concrete for pillars.
This is a bridge that meant a lot to the people who used it.
Until the ferry opened, people had to endure long drives to get around it. Some people slept in their cars at jobs in Vermont rather than make a daily journey. Others got up at 5 a.m. to do an extended trip instead of what had been an easy half hour commute to jobs that started at 8 a.m.
It isn't quite over yet, but at least the free ferry makes the time without a bridge livable.
And as Rich Couch of the Crisis Program said, "We have to remember this, so it doesn't happen again."
Opinion
October 24, 2010
EDITORIAL: No hard feelings over bridge crisis
- Editorial
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Editorial: The real reason for the holiday
Today is for creating new memories. Tomorrow, we should pause to remember. Memorial Day weekend, being the first big holiday of the sun season, is all about barbecues, picnics and outdoor activities; it is all about family and friends. After a North Country winter, even a fairly mild one like we just had, we need to relax in the sun and enjoy the outdoors.
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Editorial: The real reason for the holiday
- Cheers and Jeers
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Cheers and Jeers: May 21, 2012
JEERS to people who don't moderate their language in public; and CHEERS to the Plattsburgh Noon Rotary Club.
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Cheers and Jeers: May 21, 2012
- Letters to the Editor
- Speakout
- In My Opinion
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In My Opinion: Cultural issues need attention
Amid the various issues debated as we approach the next elections, two are important to all individuals here, as in the rest of the country: debates over birth control and over interest owed on student loans, writes Plattsburgh State professor Mark Cohen.
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In My Opinion: Cultural issues need attention
