Afternoon read: Well, it certainly puts that car repair in perspective…
The Ogdensburg Prescott bridge, heading north. Photo: Ari Herzog, CC some rights reserved
I mention today’s “afternoon read” article mostly because I got a real chuckle out of the headline: “Ogdensburg bridge in good shape, but needs $100 million in repairs.” That’s from the Watertown Daily Times today.
So, our car died yesterday and we had it towed to the place that services it. A couple hours later, we were a couple hundred dollars lighter in the wallet than we had been, but our car was in fine working order once again. I can’t imagine how I would have felt had the mechanic come out from “the back” and said, “well, it’s in pretty good shape, but it does need $100 million in repairs.”
The bridge in question is the Ogdensburg-Prescott international bridge, and for all I know hearing that the bridge only needed $100 million spent on it was a gigantic relief to the Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority (OBPA).
Apparently a recent inspection revealed the bridge to be in “satisfactory to good condition”, but with some repairs needed including repainting, fixing steel that’s been “cracked by fatigue”, and an in-depth inspection of the bridge’s main cables and suspenders. That last one alone will cost about $900,000, with a possible total expense of $5 million.
OBPA Executive Director Wade Davis said the repairs will be funded through a “mosaic” of state and federal grants the organization is seeking, and that the project will take place over the next several years.
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Is it $5 mill ir $100 mill? Either way I wouldn’t trust OBPA do over see the work. A trustworthy 3rd party would be a better choice.
BTW, a DHS employee I know tells me OBPA get’s almost $100K a month rent from DHS for the POE facility. Why is it OBPA can never pay for anything themselves with money like that coming in?
If they haven’t done the “in dept inspection” yet how do they know what is going on with the bridge? I hate bridges, especially that Thruway bridge south of Albany where it crosses way high over the Hudson. That old bridge gives me the creeps.
RC, you gotta define your acronyms. Some of us have no clue what you are talking about. I read that and I was like WTx (will not add the last letter since this is a family friendly blog!).
Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority. Dept of Homeland Security. Port Of Entry. By The Way.
Rancid, I believe the entire project is projected to cost $100 million; the cable and suspender repairs may cost up to $5 million on their own. The inspection is expected to cost about $900,000.
Didn’t they just do major deck replacement work on the bridge a year or two ago? Seems like that would have been a choice time to also do this other inspection work.
Hank, could that have been the TI bridge in Alex Bay?
Hi Nora,
Nice afternoon read commentary. Your commentary is on base but there are three things that didn’t make the wdt article. The bridge supports I’ve $4 billion of goods into/out of the region each year via 800,000 vehicles, it’s a key regional structure to the North Country Economy, and would cost in excess of 1/2 Billion dollars to replace it. Also, the OBPA submitted a $15 million grant request to NYSdot STEP program which if funded will start phase 2a of the rehabilitation. Phase 1 rehab (main span $23 million) was completed two years ago.
I’ll reach out to you next week to provide more information on the bridge as the full story isn’t getting out there and it’s a very important issue to the Nny economy and your listeners/readers.
I listen to ncpr often, please keep up the good work! – Wade
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