Broken bridge divides community

By Steven Cook
Gazette Reporter

July 24, 2000
TRIBES HILL - Forgetting a tool didn't used to mean the end of the work day for Fort Hunter general contractor Jason Downing.

But since a fierce June 7 thunderstorm damaged the Main Street Bridge that connected Fort Hunter with Tribes Hill, Downing has endured 20-minute drives one-way.

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"I used to be able to run back and forth to the workshop to rip a board or get a tool," the 48-year-old said recently over coffee at Nancy's Place in Tribes Hill. "Now, it's some 20 minutes over and 20 minutes back. It's too time consuming."

Downing even had to send his workers home early after running out of supplies, he said.

On paper, the two central Montgomery County hamlets that grew up together, are just a river's width apart.

But the reality is that for as much as 12 months or more, Tribes Hill will be effectively 11 miles from Fort Hunter.

Though no official estimate has been made, New York State Thruway and Canal Corp. spokesman Terry O'Brien said the extensive repairs likely won't begin until spring.

State officials just recently finished the inspection of the bridge that was delayed until the lock beneath the bridge could be temporarily repaired. The lock reopened three weeks ago.

The inspection revealed damage to the bridge's stabilizers, decking and other portions of the bridge.

The New York State Thruway-Canal Corp. is taking the lead in the repairs, though the county and State Department of Transportation are assisting.

Officials are currently assessing the cost of the repairs before beginning the process of finding a contractor.

"We're moving as fast as we can to get this road open," O'Brien said.

But the prospect of going a year 11 miles apart has residents wondering what they'll do.

Fort Hunter residents often would make the short trip across the river to work or stop at Nancy's Place. Tribes Hill residents often would make the trip across for farm produce.

Both hamlets benefit from mutual fire aid and commuters driving through, using the bridge.

"There aren't any split-second decisions anymore," said Nancy Dufel, owner and namesake of Nancy's Place, who makes the trek to Tribes Hill from her Fort Hunter home. "Instead of scooting across the bridge, they have to plan more."

The Fort Hunter Post Office, 274 Main St., has not been immune to the bridge closing. Its central location allowed commuters to stop in, mail letters, and buy stamps. Taverns on both sides of the river are also hurting.

But, perhaps, the most troublesome aspect of the bridge closing, residents say, is emergency services.

"We'll hope for the best," Fort Hunter Fire Chief Paul F. Slansky said. "The fire and EMS protection is terrible now."

Previously, Tribes Hill and Fort Hunter fire departments relied on each other for mutual aid. Now, Fort Hunter's closest mutual aid department is in Minaville, meaning any help is at least 15 minutes away.

Minaville is dispatched to all Fort Hunter calls, no matter how insignificant, until other help arrives, Slansky said.

Slansky and others are concerned about the bridge's condition. They are hoping for a town meeting before the end of the month to gain a repair update and urge construction of a new bridge, Slansky said.

The more-than 75-year-old bridge was shut down for several weeks four years ago under similar circumstances.

"What's to keep this from happening every couple years?" Slansky said of the bridge built over Lock 12. "The structure was never meant to be a bridge, it's doing what it wasn't built to do."

Spokesman O'Brien admitted the structure is unusual, with only two or three others like it in the state. Any repairs will be made so that the bridge withstands similar river forces in the future, O'Brien said.

Assemblyman Paul Tonko, whose district includes Tribes Hill and Fort Hunter, said last week that he has been pushing inclusion of bridge repairs in the Transportation Bond Act, scheduled to be put before voters this fall.

Tonko and others are also working to get federal disaster money and other funds to expedite the repairs.

"If you need some aspirins for you're splitting headache, you used to have to drive a quarter mile," said long-time Fort Hunter resident Mary Ann Wieszchowski. "But now you have to travel 11 miles to get your aspirins. "It's a real big inconvenience. It really is."