Bridge closure pushes trucks into Myers as construction begins

Work on the Route 34B bridge over Salmon Creek began last week as the bridge was closed to traffic and contractors began grading the construction site for vehicle parking and equipment storage. The detour through Myers raised concerns among residents of the lakeside community as increased traffic and several tractor-trailers passed through.

Lansing Town Supervisor Ed LaVigne said that he had alerted Tompkins County Sheriff Derek Osbourne about the truck traffic and was confident that increased patrolling would make it a temporary situation.

“I am going to be gracious and assume that they are not aware of the detour,” LaVigne said. “But there are real risks to the residents, other motorists and to the [Myers Road] bridge down there.”

Heavy vehicles are supposed to detour along Route 34 to avoid the site. Construction on the Ludlowville Road bridge is scheduled to be completed by Dec. 8.

“That’s not a cure,” LaVigne said, noting that Myers Road is the official detour for local, light traffic.

According to the Pre-Bid Meeting presentation on Aug. 11, the New York State Department of Transportation has committed to limit the closure of the bridge to one year from the beginning of construction, roughly Dec. 1, 2021.

An incentive payment of $10,000 per day is available for “substantial” completion — bridge work must be 100% complete and the bridge reopened to traffic. In the meantime, penalties of $10,000 per day apply for delays.

A contract has been awarded for the $16.5 million project, though no official notice of the award was available.

The existing deteriorated arched structure will be replaced with a simpler design — two sets of five “legs” will angle down from the roadway to large concrete emplacements set in the gorge walls.

The bridge will span 500 feet from bank to bank and sit about 125 feet above Salmon Creek. Eight-foot-wide shoulders will provide more room for pedestrians and bicyclists. The north end will be about 3 feet higher than the south end, according to the plans.

Demolition of the old bridge is slated to be completed by March 8, 2021. Paint will be peeled from the structure before the arches are imploded into the creek. The contract calls for the steel arches to be removed within 24 hours of the blast and the remainder of the material gone within a week.

The 92-year-old Route 34B bridge has been slated for replacement since its 2015 closure when inspectors identified faults with the steel under the bridge deck. Temporary repairs were made while the Tompkins County Department of Transportation began planning the bridge’s complete replacement for 2019. Funding delays pushed construction back to the currently scheduled start in late November of this year.

When it was completed in 1930, it was among the highest bridges in the Northeast United States and connected the north and south ends of the town.

An Ithaca Journal article of the time noted that:

“With the completion of a new highway between Rogue’s Harbor and Lake Ridge, a new route to Auburn and one of the most scenic highways in this section of the state is now open to the traveling public. A trip over the new road reveals the beauty of the Finger Lakes region such as cannot be equaled from any other point. From the top of Ludlowville Hill, the motorist can obtain a view of eight miles of Cayuga Lake, Myers, Portland point and Ithaca in the distance. Continuing along the highway, the motorist is at all times in a position to view the lake, the rolling farm country leading to the lake, and Trumansburg and Interlaken in the distance.”