Category: champlain bridge

Champlain Bridge damage evaluated

Posted on October 22, 2009 |

• Addison
• champlain bridge
• transportation

By John Flowers

ADDISON — Vermont transportation officials have declared an emergency in an effort to leverage more federal assistance in fixing the Champlain Bridge and in developing short-term solutions in getting commuters across Lake Champlain between Addison County, Vt., and Essex County, N.Y.

Vermont Transportation Secretary David Dill announced the emergency declaration at a press conference in Middlebury on Tuesday, five days after New York and Vermont authorities closed the Champlain Bridge when an inspection revealed substantial concrete deterioration to two of the span’s 12 piers.

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Families stranded from their livelihoods

Posted on October 22, 2009 |

• Addison
• champlain bridge
• transportation

By John Flowers

ADDISON — Robert Smith, co-owner of the Chimney Point Dairy Farm in Addison, has 100 acres of corn and 45 acres of soybeans growing on land a tantalizing six miles away in New York state.

“It’s so close you can almost taste it,” Smith said on Monday.

So close, yet so far.

Smith tried to harvest that corn last Friday, the day authorities closed both lanes of the Champlain Bridge due to concerns about the 80-year-old span’s structural supports. Officials would not make an exception to allow Smith’s agricultural equipment to cross over Lake Champlain on the bridge.

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Updated: Crown Point Bridge reduced to one lane; officials cite deteriorating trusses

Posted on July 2, 2009 |

• Addison
• champlain bridge
• transportation

By John S. McCright and Andy Kirkaldy

ADDISON — Because of deteriorating steel trusses discovered in a June inspection, New York Department of Transportation officials were poised on Friday to limit traffic to one lane on the Lake Champlain Bridge that links Addison with Crown Point, N.Y.

Signals at either end of the span, a crucial link between Vermont and New York State used by up to 3,600 vehicles a day, will allow eastbound and westbound traffic to take turns crossing Lake Champlain. Work will last at least through the end of August and possibly longer, said NYDOT spokesman Peter Van Keuren.

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