Following a ribbon-cutting ceremony, Ralph Goldsmith, a longtime Stony Point resident who witnessed the original dedication of Stony Point’s Farley Bridge in 1922, drove a vintage fire truck over the newly rebuilt James A. Farley Memorial Bridge.

The first phase of the project began in April with the demolition of the original 360-foot-long, 87-year-old bridge through the use of explosives. The new bridge accommodates three lanes of traffic: northbound and southbound through-lanes and a northbound, dedicated left-turn lane. The bridge also provides four-foot shoulders and sidewalks on both sides.

While the bridge has been opened to vehicular traffic and the detour has been lifted, work to complete the project continues in the construction area on Route 9W.

When completed, the new bridge will have brick-faced parapet walls with decorative pedestrian fencing mounted to the top of the parapets. Brick detailing will be incorporated into the design to match the local architecture and decorative street lighting will extends the entire length of the bridge to enhance pedestrian access and safety. The project will also incorporate bridge-approach roadway enhancements, drainage, landscaping and pavement markings.

The second and final phase of the project, planned for construction in early 2011 and expected to take a year to complete, will improve the adjoining intersection of Route 9W with Main Street in Stony Point.

I sat down today to write about how so many things have changed in North Rockland in the past 20 years, and I realized that the one place that hasn’t changed is Beach Road in Haverstraw. I think it’s time has finally come.

Beach Road has become a weekly and sometimes daily destination for many local residents, especially in summer. Boaters, fishermen, kayakers, jet skiers,  park walkers, and eagle watchers all spend big chunks of time down by the river. Hundreds of people visit local restaurants in North Rockland every weekend, and it seems like they all drive along the river on the way in or out. Just like 100 years ago when the swim clubs co- existed with the brick yards, nothing ever changes down by the river. If you have a way to get down there on a hot sunny day, then you wont leave until the sun goes down. And if you give people something to do, who knows how busy it would be.

Knowing full well that Mr Phillips has long talked about reclaiming big chunks of this unincorporated section of the Town, it’s not his fault that the Mirant deal went south, that the real estate market tanked and half the Town is lining up for a re assessment. But what could happen, and I think what should happen, is that we as a community step up and make something happen down here.

Some are sure to ask why now is the time to makeover Beach Road. The extortionist in me says  that if United Water wants to site a water plant down there, tear up a mile of road, and drag us into a pissing match with outfits like Clearwater, than the least they can do is help Howard clean up a few acres of scrub. But that’s not what I was thinking. I was thinking more of a community commitment to this project, up to and including applying for grants and funding for remediation where environmental issues exist and lease agreements with property holders in exchange for public use. I’m talking about new and innovative recreational business models, much like the Rotella golf course and Haverstraw Marina were 30 years ago, that would draw business and seasonal jobs to the area, while improving the aesthetics of this 21st century road to the dump.

Ball fields for one hold true to this vision. Although many leagues pay and play at our local school yards, there is yet another level of leagues who would play and pay dearly if the facilities consisted of a little more than a rusty 55 gallon drum chained to the backstop. Restrooms, snack bars, lighting, and lockers cost little to maintain yet bring big revenue on game day, which is every day in the leagues. MiniGolf courses, which today is nothing like most have ever seen, bring high tech bells and whistles to a game that is for all ages. Plain old fields, where you can hold carnivals, car shows, flower shows or boat shows. All serviced by a centralized snack bar and comfort station, all right next to the marina, the county park, and all those fishing spots.

There’s no doubt that today is the day we need to start thinking of new and innovative ways to develop the riverfront corridor in the Town of Haverstraw. A project like this would bring needed jobs to our high school kids and give them a little something to do on a Saturday night. It would draw new people to the area, boost revenue in local business, and give our leagues and organizations the facilities and parking they need to have a top notch event,  down by the river. Not only that, the Town might make a buck or two and clean up one of the nicer part’s of  the Town.

The James A  Farley Bridge job is moving at along at a breakneck pace, and with a large majority of the bridge completed as we write this post. Working overtime and weekends, Harrison and Burrowes have certainly worked hard to get this job done in a fast and efficient manner. Many thanks to the Town of Stony Point officials, the NY State Department of Transportation and Rockland County Highway Department for making this job as painless to the public as possible.

Detours and distractions are the norm when you demolish a bridge on a State Highway, and the plan to redirect the Route 9W traffic around the bridge seemed to work like a charm. The simple fact that the the local plants and quarry’s are running at 25% capacity due to economic conditions also played into this scenario, but when all is said and done, the plan to demolish the span and rebuild it in place was the winning hand.

The rebuilding process, which was taken on as an emergency project for NY State D.O.T. region 8, looks like it may be done in early November 2009. The above is a video of the steel girders being delivered to the job site in August. This video is part 5 of the PilotCar.TV coverage of the Over Dimensional moves needed to make this bridge job possible. Again, Kudos to all involved and we hope for a safe finish to this emergency rebuild.

Two weeks after demolition of the Farley Bridge, there is no doubt this job is running full speed. Even though traffic patterns have changed, it looks like the fragile economy and general lack of activity in the quarries and plants around Stony Point has made this the perfect time to do this job. Now, if only the weather holds out……

Here’s a video of the bridge demolition.

As we all know, traffic in North Rockland is getting worse but there are a number of new jobs in the offing that will help reduce the strain. The problem is getting the job done in a reasonable and organized manner. Some of the most recent infrastructure jobs in both Haverstraw’s lacked some finishing touches, like detour signs and flagmen, which would boost the cost of the job. We know it only takes one bad flagman, or lack thereof, to put traffic to a standstill.  We mentioned here before the need for local government require at least a barebones traffic plan in all bids and we hope they heard us.

What worries me is that the biggest projects haven’t started. Farley Bridge, Short Clove Rd, The Ferry Dock, and Gurnee Ave all have yet to be awarded, and our most recent experience here in North Rockland wasn’t pretty. The Old Rt 210 job in Stony Point was a low bid gone bad. The PIP exit 13 debacle is another bid issue, or some such thing, and we are left with a real mess. It takes strong, well funded companies to manage the costs of these multimillion jobs, and the bidding reflects this to a certain degree. The problem is that the State is blind at times to the way the companies intend to complete the job. Look at the Tappan Zee deck job. The contractor had to take into account the weight and size of the panels in every facet of the job, but he still made arrangements with a sub-contractor to avoid the expense, taxes, and fee’s related to over-dimensional moves, and they got caught doing it.  I guess its the contractors job to cheat and the taxpayers job to catch them.

Either way, the bids for Short Clove are in and there is a $6 million gap. There is no way we as a community should just accept this without getting a real good look at the differences. This job, if it goes bad, could cause major traffic issues in North Rockland and it deserves a close inspection from all of our elected representatives.

Read the Bid Sheet

Route 9W, Elimination of Railroad Grade Crossing of Short Clove Road over CSX, relocation of Short Clove Road including the construction of a new intersection and two new bridges (concrete) and reconstruction of Route 9W, Village of Haverstraw.

THE DELANEY GROUP   $24,124,000.09

ECCO III ENTERPRISES $30,253,000.00

BEN CICCONE INC $31,917,799.60

A SERVIDONE     $33,695,451.80