Bridge closure sparks Statehouse protest
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By Louis Porter Vermont Press Bureau - Published: November 18, 2009
MONTPELIER – Vermont and New York residents who depend on the closed Lake Champlain bridge traveled to Montpelier Tuesday to stress the problems caused by the closure.
Gathering on the steps of the Statehouse with signs that read "Bridge Rd. Our Road to Nowhere" and "Ferry 2-4/7 ASAP" the residents, who have seen their commutes become many times as long as when the bridge was open, asked Vermont legislators for help. The group, called the Lake Champlain Bridge Coalition, also wondered how the bridge's condition could worsen so quickly without officials noticing.
Vermont farmer Bob Smith had 100 acres of corn in New York State at the time the bridge closed. It has cost him $12,000 to truck the corn back to his farm through Whitehall, N.Y., and he hasn't yet paid the cost of having it harvested.
State officials told him there might be some Federal Emergency Management Agency money to help cover those kinds of costs, but he hasn't seen it yet, Smith said.
"I've got the bills and I have to pay them and I don't see any FEMA money coming floating across," Smith said.
Meanwhile James Geh, who with his wife owns the Bridge Restaurant just on the Vermont side of the bridge, said he may add a "No" to the name of the business.
Local residents are eating at the business more to help them through, but the lack of a bridge has had a significant impact on business, he said.
"There is no reason to go through there other than the bridge," Geh said.
John Zicconi of the Vermont Agency of Transportation said the state is working through the permit process to create a permanent ferry service. The current ferry operator has a contract to keep running through December, but whether the ferry will be able to keep running that long depends in part of weather, he said.
Zicconi said the state hopes to complete the work of getting permits this week for the work that has to be done on the land in preparation for building floating or pier-supported docks for the new ferry.
"It's certainly going to be into December," he said.
Rep. Diane Lanpher, D-Vergennes, who represents a district affected by the bridge closure and is on the House Transportation Committee, said the response by the states since the closure has been generally focused and good.
But New York and Vermont should have done a better job overseeing the condition of the structure, she said.
"I think that we could have done a better job. We, both states, could have done a better job of keeping an eye on this bridge," Lanpher said. "We are surprised at the accelerated erosion that has occurred."
The concrete of the bridge piers deteriorated faster than anyone expected, Zicconi said.
"The good news was we caught it and we closed it before anybody was hurt," Zicconi said.
Lanpher said she has seen firsthand the toll exacted by closure of the bridge.
If the ferry to Ticonderoga, N.Y. that is now operating must close due to weather before the new ferry is running "it will be very difficult," Lanpher said.
That is apparent to Janet Denney's family. The New Yorker's father-in-law is in a Vermont hospital, and to visit him means a three-hour visit, she said.
"I used to do all of my shopping in Burlington," she added. "That is a thing of the past."
Rep. Gregory Clark, R-Vergennes, said local business owners are nervous in part because they have heard promises that something would be done, but they haven't seen much action.
"Nobody is seeing any pilings being driven," he said.
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