Lincoln Street Bridge repair and closing status

[Lee Chowaniec]

Village of Depew resident Dan Beutler has attended both Town of Lancaster Village of Depew board meetings to get information on when the flagged Lincoln Street Bridge repair work would take place and whether the bridge would be closed during the winter months if repair work was delayed.

At the recent Lancaster Town Board meeting Beutler declared that it is now half-way through August and if repair work doesn’t commence immediately the work will not get done this year. Supervisor Dino Fudoli voiced that the work will not get done this year. He spoke with John DiDonato of DiDonato Engineer Services and the project is being started with surveying analysis.

Fudoli declared that the bridge would most likely not be open in the winter. The consensus was reached by DiDonato, Highway Superintendent Dan Amatura and he. They don’t think the repair work could be done by winter. “They will get started and go full steam ahead in the spring,” said Fudoli.

Beutler: Does the Village of Depew know that? They will tonight.

Fudoli: We keep them apprised of it.

Beutler: I have been going to the Village Board meetings…

Fudoli: It’s not their…

Beutler: Guess what, someone has to take some intuitive on it. I got friends that live on Lincoln…

Fudoli: I just said that we are starting the project and it will not be repaired before the winter; that’s for sure.

Beutler: So the bridge will most likely be closed for the winter?

Fudoli: Mostly likely it will be closed; yes. When the engineer gives us the definitive response, then we will make the announcement.

Beutler: Please call me when that happens so that the residents who live on Lincoln will not be jerked around for eight months. And when do you estimate the bridge work will begin in the spring?

Fudoli: It all depends on the weather.

Beutler: That’s true. They won’t be able to plow the bridge in the winter and the Southeast Works buses won’t be able to go down the street.

Fudoli: You were at the last meeting when we discussed this. The town bonds once a year. When the bridge was flagged, it was past the time we could start the bonding process. The board brought in DiDonato and we asked what it would cost us to patch it. We were told it would cost somewhere from $50,000 to $60,000 to do a temporary repair. It certainly did not make any sense to the board at that time to throw that kind of money away just so people could drive across the bridge in the winter. We missed the bonding process so we had to make a decision on whether we want to separate bond and spend a ton of money on one project, or whether or not we will tack it on…

Beutler: So we will tell the neighbors, next year.

Updated status on Lincoln Bridge closing

A new consensus on the bridge closing is that it will remain open with the present one lane of traffic as long as the bridge is able to be plowed in the winter in such manner to make it a safe crossing.

Where the bridge is structurally unsound has been cordoned off. The travel path is safe enough to not restrict and/or limit vehicles by weight as was determined by T-Y-LIN Engineering; the engineering firm that performed the initial bridge study.

T-Y-LIN measured the areas that were not spalling, performed some soundings to be sure the non-spalled areas were structurally sound and measured the locations of the replacement beams. T-Y-LIN expressed confidence that the roadway could be narrowed over the culvert to one lane to allow for safe passage.

As it is the town that will be bonding over $450,000 to replace the box culvert and repair the deck, it is within their jurisdiction to determine under what conditions the bridge will be open to vehicular traffic.

[hawkeye]

Looks like another delay for the taxpayers of Depew along with the Lancaster drivers regarding traffic issues! Harris Hill and the towns says next year! My family member that works for the town stated that the Town had knowledge of the Lincoln bridge for some time and didn't want to address it. The Town and Village have been playing a cat and mouse game on this and Olmstead and Grant St. for years it's not mine and o-no- its.yours. Looking at southeast works on northeastern end of Lincoln and Depew fire has firehall just around the corner from Lincoln. The services will have a per founding effect on the area.