RIVER VALLEY – The New York-Pennsylvania Joint Interstate Bridge Commission has approved a major rehabilitation of the 1961 Callicoon, NY-Damascus, PA Bridge to begin this fall and earmarked another $1 million-plus to continue studying alternatives for the closed 1902 Skinners Falls, NY-Milanville, PA Bridge at their annual meeting.
The contract letting for the Callicoon-Damascus Bridge is scheduled for August 24. The more than $18 million approved cost will be shared equally by the two states.
Construction is expected to take at least two years with plans to keep an alternating lane open to traffic as the work progresses.
In 2021, the commission had approved $2.2 million to design Bridge #7’s engineering upgrade after finding rapidly deteriorating steel members, exposed and missing reinforcing bars on all concrete piers and abutments of the substructure, cracks and widespread potholes on the deck and roadway approaches, and the paint has reached the end of its life cycle. The timeframe announced last year to let the contract in February 2023 was delayed.
While some repairs to potholes and joint headers took place over the past season which helped account for $21,086 out of the total $53,077 that was spent to maintain all 10 bridges along with providing snow and ice control, commissioners allocated $52,000 out of the total $96,000 on the April 1, 2023-March 31, 2024 general maintenance schedule for the Callicoon-Damascus Bridge.
Commissioners also approved just under $1.1 million to continue the planning and environmental linkages study for the Skinners Falls-Milanville Bridge, which was shut down to all vehicular and pedestrian usage on October 16, 2019 after failing an emergency inspection.
The commission also approved $460,000 in design work to rehabilitate the deck, preserve the trusses, replace all stringers, and paint the 1939 Port Jervis, NY-Matamoras, PA Bridge #1.
The rehabilitation of the 1953 Cochecton, NY-Damascus, PA Bridge #6 that began in 2021 and resulted in a new deck, sidewalks, railing, pedestrian fence, and roadway approaches has been completed, with only a paint job remaining to do under the contract this summer.
