Bridge repair project could cost up to $800,000
KINGSTON, N.Y. » The city could spend up to $800,000 to rehabilitate the Elmendorf Street bridge in Midtown.
During an online meeting Wednesday, April 14, the Common Council’s Finance and Audit Committee moved forward a resolution that would authorize the city to borrow up to $725,000 for the bridge repair work. That funding would be on top of the $75,000 the council authorized in September 2020 for design work on the project.
The new bonding resolution must still be voted on by the full council, which meets again on Tuesday, May 4.
If the funding is approved, the city could seek bids from firms able to do the bridge repairs. City Engineer John Schultheis said once the bids are received and the contract awarded, the bridge repairs could be completed by September 2021.
The bridge has been closed since July 20, 2020, due to deteriorating timber supports that were discovered as a result of construction related to the resurfacing of Elmendorf Street. The existing bridge, which carries the roadway over a rail trail, is estimated to be more than 100 years old.
Schultheis said the city did evaluate multiple alternative designs for the repair work. He said the chosen path would be to retain the lower two-thirds of the stone abutments on the existing bridge and pour new concrete seats. The new span would be made of precast concrete panels, Schul
theis said. He said the result would give the bridge a similar look to the one on Albany Avenue over the same rail trail near the top of Broadway. “One of the objectives was to lower the hump,” Schultheis said of the new span. “There’s some limitations to how much we can drop it, but I think we’re able to drop it a foot and a half lower than it is right now while maintaining acceptable clearance for the trail underneath.”
Schultheis added that the new design produced the best combination of long life, low maintenance, and a feeling of safety for trail users underneath the span.
No grant funding was available to help pay for the work, though, Schultheis and Kristen Wilson, the city’s director of the Office of Grants Management, said.