Bethlehem authorizes state-funded culvert replacement
— Image from Google Earth
This map shows where the Vloman Kill tributary intersects with Wemple Road, in Bethlehem, near the Historic Heath Farm. The town will spend up to $1.3 million in state-reimbursed money to replace a culvert there.
BETHLEHEM — The Bethlehem Town Board took action this week on a culvert-replacement project that received state funding last year.
By unanimous vote, the board authorized the town comptroller to use up to $1.3 million from the Highway Fund Capital Reserve to replace a deteriorating culvert on Wemple Road, as well as to pay CHA Consulting up to $264,000 for the project’s design phase.
The culvert carries a tributary to the Vloman Kill that intersects with Wemple Road near the Historic Heath Farm barn.
Although it has to cover the cost up front, the town will receive just under $1.2 million back from New York state as part of the Department of Transportation’s BRIDGE NY grant initiative, which is meant to help local governments “harden their existing infrastructure to better endure severe weather events and withstand the impacts of climate change,” according to a release from the governor’s office at the time.
The award was announced last year, with Albany County and nearby Guilderland also receiving substantial funding from the $484 million grant round.
