BY ANDY GARDNER
North Country This Week

NORFOLK -- A deteriorating historic bridge across the Raquette River has been shut down and St. Lawrence County will likely have to build a new one to replace it.

County Highway Superintendent Don Chambers discussed the problem with the Board of Legislators Finance Committee during their Monday, Aug. 24 meeting.

He said the Yaleville Road bridge was built in the late 1800s. The style, called a lenticular truss, is one of only a new remaining in New York state, Chambers said.

He said the closure came after the state Department of Transportation issued a “red flag” to the county because the bridge is decaying.

“This is a big truss structure. The transverse beams that hold up, over half of them have serious deterioration,” he told the board. “Above that, you have … longitudinal beams under the open steel decking and also serious deterioration on those structures.”

“We had no choice but to close the structure,” Chambers said.

The county highway superintendent said the bill to build a replacement bridge would probably be “somewhere in $7-8 million and another million to decommission.”

“The most effective way would be to provide a new crossing and take the decking material off the existing structure, fencing it off, because it is a historic structure,” Chambers said, adding that county officials have already been discussing a solution to the decaying bridge. “The amount of rehab the structure needs probably wouldn’t be allowed by the … state historic preservation office.”

Legislator Tony Arquiett, D-Helena, suggested dipping into the county’s $20.5 million unassigned fund balance to pay for the new bridge. He made the comment after the county’s auditor announced a clean audit of their 2019 finances, and a healthy fund balance.

“We just heard from our auditor that we have $20 million of the taxpayers money on reserve for a rainy day,” Arquiett said. “I think at some point we need to take a serious look at the expenditures … this is not our money. This is taxpayer money.”

Arquiett also pointed to the now-closed Depot Street bridge in his district, which he says requires a 26-mile detour.

“In my district, I’ve got a bridge out jeopardizing several businesses, inconveniencing thousands and thousands of people every single day,” he said.

Chambers said there is not yet an official detour for the Yaleville Bridge, but noted that other roadways in the area require the 200 or so cars per day that use it to go several miles out of their way.