OXFORD – The mighty Chenango rose perilously close under State Street Bridge in Oxford last Thursday, a bridge that has been deemed structurally deficient by the federal highway administration for years.
Chenango County was lucky that neither Hurricane Irene nor the remnants of tropical storm Lee took out the village’s main artery or many other bridges for that matter.
Only four bridges were closed as the waters rose late last week, including the Hogsback Road Bridge that spans the Chenango River in Greene, the state Rt. 23 bridge over Unadilla River in New Berlin, and Brooksbank at Cousins roads and Buckley Hollow Road bridges, both in Oxford.
Prior to Irene, the Federal Highway Administration had already identified 354 structurally deficient bridges in the Southern Tier, including 23 in Chenango County. Heavier trucks and overdue maintenance is to blame, according to U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer, D-NY, who, in a press call last week, said Irene had destroyed 15 bridges in upstate New York and pushed many that were already structurally deficient into even greater disrepair.
“This was a dire classification before the storm, meaning they were in serious condition. Now they’re in intensive care,” he said following a seven-county tour of Irene damaged and drenched homes, businesses and transportation infrastructure in New York.
The Senator is urging Congress to quickly extend a transportation construction bill that is due to expire Sept. 30. The normally routine extension, it would be the eighth since the bill expired in 2009, would authorize Congress to collect the federal gas tax for surface highway construction. Based on U.S. Department of Transportation data, it could mean $3 billion for ongoing projects and tens of thousands of jobs in New York State.
“The strength of New York’s economy and livelihood rides on the condition of our bridges. It’s a major element of our state’s economy, business can’t stay open, workers can’t get to work,” Schumer said.
On Friday, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved a short-term extension of the highway bill. The House is expected to approve a version of it shortly.
