And time is running out: The bridge can no longer carry the weight of firetrucks, school buses or agricultural equipment. In a situation where minutes count, emergency vehicles have to take a detour on rural roads. An agricultural community, one of eastern New York’s largest dairies, Wil-Roc Farm, with a herd of 4,000 cows is just up the road from this bridge in Stuyvesant, New York.
Meanwhile, Stuyvesant residents are planting homemade “Save Our Bridge” signs on their front lawns. In August, residents held their first rally at the bridge, launching a “Save Our Bridge” website, part of a grassroots effort to put the current plan on pause. Residents were encouraged to submit comments on the project to the county in August after a public information session. A town bridge committee held its first meeting early in September, reportedly attracting close to 60 residents.
While everyone wants a safe plan that provides adequate load capacity for emergency vehicles, maintains low vehicle speeds and safe conditions for pedestrians and cyclists, Residents supporting Historic Stuyvesant want more say in the design process. They’re asking for alternative plans that retain the single-lane character of this county-owned bridge listed on the National Register of Historic Places as an historic surviving structure of the Stuyvesant Falls Mill District.
A Troubled Bridge Over Local Waters
Overlooking the Kinderhook Creek and Stuyvesant Falls, the bridge connects County Road 25A with the hamlet of Stuyvesant Falls, an Empire State trailhead at one end and parks at both ends. The bridge spans time, providing modern day motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists views of the Upper and Lower Falls and Mill Dam, a grist, paper, cotton, woolen mill complex, three nineteen-century cotton mills and a creekside hydroelectric plant built in 1900.
“The bridge is a monument to an attitude that any stream could be bridged, any river dammed, or any challenge of nature met not only competently, but beautifully,” said Jim Benton, Columbia County Historical Society senior historian.
But the structural integrity underneath and throughout the bridge is deteriorating: rusting trusses, connections and floorbeams were noted by CHA Consulting, the firm contracted by the county to develop a preliminary design and perform work on the bridge.
The Plan: One Lane or Two?
The new $5.1 million bridge proposal consists of a single span, multiple steel girder, a concrete slab deck, two 11-foot travel lanes with shoulders and a sidewalk. Almost 500 feet of CR 25A would be reconstructed near the new bridge. The project schedule estimates construction between 2026 and 2027, with funding at 80-percent federal, 15-percent state and five-percent from the county.
But in a letter from The National Trust for Historic Preservation to the county, Elizabeth Merritt, deputy general counsel states that the county’s proposal is not meeting mandatory federal requirements. “We urge the county to suspend its demolition plans, and work with the FHWA [Federal Highway Administration] to develop a revised proposal that would be consistent with the preservation requirements,” including “all possible planning to minimize harm” to the historic property. “We see no evidence that any effort has been initiated to comply with this strict preservation mandate in the development of plans for the bridge replacement project.”
Stuyvesant Town Supervisor Ron Knott said he talked with Columbia County Public Works Commissioner Ray Jurkowski about building a new iron truss bridge that would mimick the historic bridge. But there were issues: “The future costs of maintaining any truss bridge today far exceeds the maintenance costs of a more conventional bridge,” said Knott. “All the maintenance is always on the county taxpayers.”
photo by Barbara Reina
Local resident, Kathryn Schneider, also a member of Historic Stuyvesant, is an ornithologist who has lived a short walk from the bridge for over 30 years.
Local resident, Kathryn Schneider, also a member of Historic Stuyvesant, is an ornithologist who has lived a short walk from the bridge for over 30 years. She is concerned about how the larger physical footprint of the proposed new bridge could affect the northern rough-winged swallows that nest under the current stone bridge abutments on the banks of the Kinderhook Creek, which would be replaced with large concrete walls. The group wants the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation to revew possible impacts to the creek banks and habitat.
Schneider said she is also concerned about how the larger footprint could shrink the current size of the Stuyvesant Falls Overlook Park off CR 25A close to the bridge. “We value the rural character of this town,” she said.
Saving History Or Letting It Go
Stretching across Kinderhook Creek, the Stuyvesant Falls Bridge is the “longest metal truss bridge and only one of its kind in Columbia County.” The current bridge, with a more than 200-foot span, was built in 1899. “It replaced a timber, covered bridge, a perfect symbol of the past,” said Benton. “If the bridge is demolished, it would no longer be on the register.” The bridge’s place in history would not transfer to any modern counterpart. But the county’s latest plan is to save only remnants of the historic bridge, relocating and refurbishing the portal bracing, historic plaques and architectural railings.
Scenic Hudson weighed-in on the issue. A letter to the county from Jeffrey Anzevino, director of land use advocacy states: “Replacing this rare 1899 single-lane iron truss bridge with a two-lane modern span would represent an irreparable loss to the Stuyvesant Falls Mills National Historic District.” Scenic Hudson is urging the county to consider alternative design options, “robust public involvement” and follow through on a required review by the New York State Historic Preservation Office.
This isn’t the first time the question of repair or replace has been an issue for the surviving local fixture. Steel arches were added to strengthen it in 1993. The book, Stories of Stuyvesant, written by the late Town Historian Juanita Knott, states that officials were “reluctant to embrace” the then new technology. “Finally, with sheer persistence, the continual presentation of facts to support the rehabilitation, and overwhelming public support,” officials agreed to preserve the bridge.
Crossing That Bridge...Next Steps
“The county engineer and engineering firm we’re working with, everyone believes that it is a historic bridge,” said Knott. “It’s got a very unique character and if it’s replaced, it should be replaced with something that respects that character and be a unique bridge. That’s what we’re looking for input from the public on.”
The next town Bridge Committee meeting is Thursday, September 26.
