BROWNVILLE, New York (WWNY) – After seven decades of carrying folks across the river, Brownville’s Bridge Street bridge is being replaced.
“It’s time. It’s aged out of service. We’ve limped it along the last few years until we get the projects on the books and we did. It’s lived a good life,” said Mike Flick, public information officer, New York State Department of Transportation.
The $15 million project will build a new, wider bridge about half a mile west of the old one.
“The shoulders will be wider. It’ll be modern standards. The last bridge lasted 70-plus years. The new bridge should last about the same,” said Flick.
Flick says it should make traffic flow more smoothly since Brownville has changed a lot over the decades.
“75 years ago, completely different traffic pattern. The predominant flow through there was mill traffic. Now there’s through traffic and commuter traffic and whatnot,” he said.
In order to make the project happen, the state has to acquire and purchase land from a number of Brownville residents. One of those residents says that wasn’t communicated to her properly.
“It didn’t start off on a good foot because I was never notified before. I was notified by reading it in the paper,” said Carol Parker, landowner.
One of her fears is increased traffic near her property, making entering and leaving a lot more difficult.
“They’re going to have to put lights or some such means of letting me egress or ingress into the property,” she said.
Construction on the new bridge is expected to begin sometime next spring and it’s slated for completion by fall of 2025.
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