Portageville Bridge Replacement, Future Tier Traffic

Were the hearings on the draft EIS held in Mt Morris this week?

Steve R wrote:Were the hearings on the draft EIS held in Mt Morris this week?

Yes, there was a write up in the Livingston County News about it last week.

Here is the link:

http://www.thelcn.com/news/hearing-set- ... f887a.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A Letchworth State Park ranger told me on Sunday that tree removal will begin this fall for the new bridge. She said they would be cutting down trees in one of the oldest forests in the park.

And...

I had no idea there was a road on the other side of the bridge! It went to where the Erie station used to be:

http://binged.it/1tapfyP" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And...

I talked to the lady at the Portageville entrance. When it closes in November, it will be closed for 4 years!

At one time, the road continued south of the tracks all the way to the east end of the NY 436 bridge, but the south end was washed out during Tropical Storm Agnes in 1972.

I took some pics at the Letchworth bridge because construction is supposed to begin soon.

These are my "Before" pics for when the bridge opens in 2017.

Inside Letchworth:

http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=219447" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=219448" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=219449" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The new bridge will be to the right of the bridge in this pic:

http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=219450" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Portageville side:

http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=219451" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=219452" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There is a report over on Train Orders that the Portage Bridge is/was closed for several hours today for an emergency repair.
Anyone have more details?

Mike Stellpflug wrote:There is a report over on Train Orders that the Portage Bridge is/was closed for several hours today for an emergency repair.
Anyone have more details?

Here is the official NS announcement: http://www.nscorp.com/content/nscorp/en ... utage.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
But I don't know more than that. JS
EDIT: here is the site that lists the updates. Nothing new posted about the bridge as of now (9:45 PM EDT).
http://www.nscorp.com/content/nscorp/en ... enter.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It has been reported late last night on the TierSightings Yahoo forum that the P'ville Bridge has re-opened and traffic is running once again.

Also here is a recent article about an honors winning 5 minute video documenting the bridge's history and its imminent demise:

http://www.thedailynewsonline.com/news/ ... f887a.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A few comments on Facebook are that tree cutting will not take place this fall for the new bridge and that construction has been delayed until 2016.

Rumors or fact?

Because the government has to be involved in every aspect of this project - wouldn't surprise me if this is true. Remember the current bridge was built 90 days after the original wood one was destroyed by fire.

nessman wrote:Because the government has to be involved in every aspect of this project - wouldn't surprise me if this is true. Remember the current bridge was built 90 days after the original wood one was destroyed by fire.

You must be talking about the same government that NS will happily take funds from to subsidize construction of said bridge. Oh, and don't forget all the help they got from DOT navigating the review process too.

JDFCLK96 wrote:

nessman wrote:Because the government has to be involved in every aspect of this project - wouldn't surprise me if this is true. Remember the current bridge was built 90 days after the original wood one was destroyed by fire.

You must be talking about the same government that NS will happily take funds from to subsidize construction of said bridge. Oh, and don't forget all the help they got from DOT navigating the review process too.

Well good, it's about time considering all the monies the government/DOT laid-down on public highways that the competition used to
take business AWAY from railroads over the years, right?

Nessman wrote:Remember the current bridge was built 90 days after the original wood one was destroyed by fire.

So many more regulations now, worrying about fish, birds, snails, air, water, trees. Plus various bureaucracies each having their area of control. The logistics and headaches of an undertaking such as this project are staggering.

Our country didn't become great by tying everything in red tape.

BR&P wrote:Our country didn't become great by tying everything in red tape.

AMEN.

'Murica........

Remove all the red tape and I think people would be too lazy to build it that fast.

nessman wrote:Remember the current bridge was built 90 days after the original wood one was destroyed by fire.