It is more than a crying shame, it is a CRIME!!
I guess governments in this nation are too busy giving tax loot to corporations, padding their own pensions and perks, and lavishing TRILLIONS on WARS and BANKS.
"Champlain bridge can’t be saved" by John Curran, Associated Press | November 10, 2009
WEST ADDISON, Vt. - A bridge connecting New York and Vermont that was closed suddenly last month amid safety concerns is too badly deteriorated to repair and must be replaced, officials announced yesterday.
Underwater inspection of the concrete piers and underlying foundations of the Lake Champlain Bridge found cracks and deterioration, making it vulnerable to sudden collapse, said Stanley Gee, acting commissioner of the New York State Department of Transportation.
Neither he nor Vermont Agency of Transportation Secretary David Dill would say when construction might begin on the replacement. They said they hope demolition of the bridge can begin by year’s end.... Its closure has disrupted life for thousands of people on both sides: commuters who live in one state and work in the other, farmers who have operations in both states, and businesses located close to each terminus that rely on patronage by commuters.
About 3,500 vehicles a day used the bridge and its closure forced a 100-mile detour.
I would be FURIOUS, too!!!!
The states are gearing up to establish a new ferry service in the shadow of the rusting structure, but it’s unclear how quickly it can begin.
Well, they WON'T HAVE TOO LONG to get going once the LAKE FREEZES (see flashback below)!
Why the OMISSION, Globe?
Yesterday, archaeologists from the University of Vermont, working under contract, were busy digging in a field next to the bridge in hopes of establishing what artifacts, if any, lie in the ground where the new ferry approach and terminals would be built.
They aren't going to have anything built before winter!
Ray Giroux, president of Champlain Bridge Marina, a marina and boat sales business on the Vermont side, called the news devastating. “This is a crying shame, to have ill maintenance from our government and not see it way ahead of time,’’ he said.
The permanent closing of the bridge is bad news for commuters. “I hope they do something soon,’’ said Melissa Bienvenue, 50, of Addison, who works at Goodrich Aerospace in Vergennes, where many New Yorkers commute to work. “They have to take the long way around.’’
Hoping in the state? Bound to be disappointed.
Jessica Rochon, a clerk at a general store in Addison, said business was off since the closing. “Down that way is a ghost town,’’ she said, gesturing toward the bridge. If repairs were attempted, the severity of deterioration to the piers would endanger contractors and engineers, Gee said.
I wash just wondering where YOU, the CITIZEN and TAXPAYER fir into all this!
FLASHBACK:
“It’s a ghost town.... We feel like we’re cut off from the world’’
I'm afraid already.
"A bridge to nowhere; When the historic Lake Champlain Bridge closed, it was more than an annoyance - it entirely upended a way of life" by David Filipov, Globe Staff | November 1, 2009
ADDISON, Vt. - .... The rusting bridge was closed indefinitely on Oct. 16 after inspectors discovered that the deterioration of at least two of the 80-year-old concrete piers raised the threat of imminent collapse....
Vermont business owners along what has been a vital artery for decades have found themselves, abruptly, in a backwater. Farmers who work the land on both shores are now forced to make the costly 90-mile trek around the lake to reach crops a few miles away. Hundreds of workers from impoverished upstate New York towns who have low-paying but steady jobs on the Vermont side now face long-distance commutes that add hours to their day and take dollars from their pockets. People joke that you can’t get there from here, but nobody here is laughing.
No, YOU DON'T SEE THAT HERE, do you? Because it is NOT FUNNY!
“This is a disaster on so many levels. So many businesses, so many people,’’ said Lisa Cloutier, owner of The Bridge Restaurant, a blue barn-wood family eatery that sits at the foot of the span in Addison, a hamlet on the Vermont shore where businesses are almost entirely dependent on bridge traffic.... “We are collateral damage,’’ she said. “And they don’t care.’’
Transportation authorities on both sides of the lake say they do care. They had expected the aging piers to crumble gradually, but they figured that they would remain safe at least until 2013, when repairs were planned. Now they say the bridge - a deck truss bridge similar to the one that collapsed in Minneapolis in 2007, killing 13 people - will stay closed at least through the winter, if it can be repaired at all....
Yeah, TOO BAD the COUNTRY is TOSSING ITS MONEY AWAY on WARS and BANKS!!!!
**************************
Some people have been crossing in craft as small as kayaks. On Wednesday night, with the air temperature in the low 40s, Cloutier and several other business owners rode an 18-foot Stingray speedboat across the pitch-black lake to attend an emotionally charged meeting between frustrated residents and officials in Port Henry, N.Y.
Where is global fart mist when you need it?
A safer alternative for Champlain’s gale-swept autumn waters is being offered by the Basin Harbor Club, a resort that has made its sturdy tour boat available to ferry pedestrians across the lake, where free shuttle buses take them where they need to go....
Yeah, IF you DO NOT MIND the WAIT!!!!!
The temporary ferries will have to stop running in a few weeks, unless authorities bring in ice-breakers, such as the ones that operate on the border with Canada.
WHY would you need ICE-BREAKERS in a FEW WEEKS if we have GLOBAL WARMING?
If that does not happen, people are worried that some commuters will try to cross the lake on snowmobiles. Underwater currents in the lake are fickle, and the thickness of the ice is not uniform; even experienced ice fishers fall through, said Joe Ezzo of Witherbee, N.Y., an amateur ice fisherman....
Some lakeside residents said they would be willing to take risks - including using the now barricaded bridge. Robert Smith, who since 1966 has owned Chimney Point Farm in Addison, is one of them. He grows corn and soy on the New York side to feed his 271 cows. The business is already on the ropes because of the steep decline in the price of milk over the past two years. He estimates that trucking his feed around the lake will cost him $17,000, an expense he cannot afford. “It’s just choking me to death,’’ Smith said. “We feel like we’re cut off from the world.’’
John Zicconi, a spokesman for the Vermont Agency of Transportation, said authorities were looking into safer solutions. Along with the possible bridge-side ferry, another idea being floated is a temporary bridge. Both ideas involve complications. It may not have been a problem in 1929, but nowadays, building even a temporary ferry dock requires elaborate research into possible harm to the environment and historic or archeological sites.
Well, F*** THAT!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
WHAT GOOD is the STATE when they DESTROY YOUR WAY of LIFE through NEGLIGENCE!!!
WHERE, oh WHERE, has ALL the TAX LOOT GONE?
Late last week, teams of transportation officials were surveying the area.
“We are aggressively pursuing this,’’ said Scott Newman, historic preservation officer for the Vermont transportation agency. Darwin Pratt is one of many people who say they cannot wait long. The general store he has run for 40 years in Bridport, Vt., is losing thousands of dollars each day. “It’s a ghost town,’’ he said.
