He was responding to complaints by many
Assemblyman Colin Schmitt and New York State Department of Transportation officials visited the construction site at the Popolopen Bridge in Fort Montgomery on July 7, touring ongoing construction efforts.
“Work is well underway to improve the structural integrity of the bridge and is expected to be completed by the end of the construction season this year,” Schmitt said in a press release issued after the visit.
The statement said: “Assemblyman Schmitt has received numerous complaints from community members regarding the continued work on the bridge and the project’s duration. He has relayed those to DOT and wanted to get answers personally on them.
Much of the extended project work time is due to the specialized steel parts that had to be constructed individually for the repair which took significant time along with the intensive process required to properly work around the sensitive parts of the bridge due to its unique design- all adding significant time to the project.
The good news is that all the parts are now produced and work is ongoing. Upgrading the impacted infrastructure on this bridge is critical to ensuring the safety of all Hudson Valley residents who use the Popolopen Bridge.
Schmitt said he will continue to be in touch with DOT “to ensure community concerns are heard and the quickest safe completion of the project occurs”.
In recent months, since the bridge was taken down to two lanes, there have been numerous accidents there, including a head-on collision and several cases of sideswiping. Supervisor Bob Livsey has spent a significant amount of time contacting officials, like Schmitt, asking them to put pressure on the DOT to get the project completed — or at least to make the bridge more safe as it is now.