Fox Creek Bridge reopens

Thursday, January 3, 2019 - 13:07

BERNE — The long-awaited construction on the bridge over Fox Creek in Berne was completed this month.

The bridge between Dutch Settlement Road, Bradt Hollow Road, and Helderberg Trail was completed the morning of Dec. 13.

The bridge had been scheduled to reopen in November 2017 but this May it was announced that construction was being delayed by ground sloping, and that the bridge was expected to be opened in August.

An emailed statement from Albany County spokeswoman Mary Rozak in May said that the weight of the bridge’s pavement appeared to have caused the ground to settle and the slope to move.

Albany County Department of Public Works Commissioner Lisa Ramundo told The Enterprise in May that an engineering firm hired to investigate the problem found that there was excess topsoil on one side that slowed some movement.

Ramundo said in May that the bridge was being repaired after the deterioration of its beams reduced the maximum weight allowed on the bridge to 12 tons. The bridge is considered low volume, with about 543 vehicles crossing the bridge each day, she said.

Rozak said in an email on Friday that the cost of construction, design, and inspection of the work totalled $2,750,356. The bridge was built in 1939 and last rehabbed in 1985, she said.

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