A public information meeting for review of the status of construction next year of a new Belfast Road Bridge for crossing the Genesee River is being held tonight.
The session is scheduled to start at 6PM at the Belfast Municipal Building at 11 Merton Avenue, with a 15-minute presentation by LaBella Engineers and another 15 minutes for questions.
The estimated $8.3 million project, on County Road 26 (Hughes Street), will replace a structure which was closed February 2 of last year due to shifting components which would lead to bridge collapse, according to county officials.
Allegany County Department of Public Works Superintendent Thomas Windus previously told Allegany Hope Community News that the bridge was opened in 1975 under an emergency construction design project resulting from a flood three years earlier.
He said, however, the pilings were driven straight into the ground and didn’t turn outward to provide a more solid base, causing them to shift after some half-century of use.
Design and construction plans for the current project also have been fast-tracked by the State Department of Transportation, with demolition of the old bridge having been undertaken earlier this year.
In the meantime, emergency vehicles, school buses and other transportation are having to incur a several miles detour until the new structure is in place.
The previous two-span steel structure is designed to be replaced by a three-span bridge, with a summary of other highlights appearing on the chart accompanying this story.
Further information is available from Windus at windust@alleganyco.gov or (585) 268-9230 or Steve Gauthier, project engineer, at sgauthier@labellapc.com or (585) 295-6294.