Shoring up the footings

Exit 96 bridge gets necessary repairs

By Mio Moser | Manor Ink

Livingston Manor, NY – New York State Route 17, the highway that skirts around the boundary of Livingston Manor, consists of many bridges and interchanges, including many that rest on pillars partly submerged in a river or streambed. It should come as no surprise that water and the harsh weather conditions in our region can affect the structural integrity of those bridges.

One such bridge crossing the Willowemoc Creek exists at Exit 96, the interchange for Livingston Manor. The bridge is maintained by the NY State Department of Transportation, which monitors 647 bridges across the state. NYSDOT inspects their bridges once every two years.

During one of these inspections, engineers noticed that there was erosion in the streambed and on the riverbanks near the Exit 96 bridge’s piers. This can happen when water washes away sedimentary material, exposing the bridge’s foundation. Had this continued, the water could have weakened the foundation itself, making the bridge unsafe to cross. To avoid this situation, work is taking place now to ensure that the bridge will last for decades to come and be resistant to future extreme weather occurrences.

“It’s a scour project, which means there’s been some erosion. And we just have to get down in there and fix it and shore it up. This particular project is also for flood protection in the future,“ said Scott Cook, public information specialist for the DOT’s Region 9, which includes Sullivan County.

“We’re starting to see what are referred to as 50-year storms and 100-year storms coming annually,” Cook said. Because of these increasingly intensive storms, it is important to keep the bridges well maintained. “Safety is the number one priority here at DOT. For every project we undertake, we have safety in mind,“ Cook said.

In order to build an access road to the construction site, the DOT needed to close a lane on Rte. 17. This road allows construction equipment to reach the work zone safely. “As long as drivers heed the lane closure warnings and lowered speed limits through the work zone and refrain from distracted driving, they and our workers will be safe,“ said Engineer-in-Chief Austin Lenio. There is no risk to those crossing the bridge while the work is underway.

“Region 9 is a very steep region, meaning topography causes high velocities in the waterways,“ Lenio said. These problems come with intense storms that are more frequent. In addition, the DOT design parameters have been updated recently, meaning that there are now new design standards. Due to the Willowemoc Creek having higher velocities than most other waterways of similar size in the region, extra heavy stones, weighing around 5,000 lbs. each, were needed for this repair.

Preserving the natural environment in and around the Willowemoc was also very important when designing this project. Because it necessitates underwater construction, one half of the river needed to be closed off using a turbidity curtain. This construction method allows fish to pass through the work site safely. Additionally, to ensure that trout can easily swim up or downstream, the submerged metal sheetings were adapted to allow fish to cross easily. Before construction began, the DOT had to obtain a permit from the Department of Conservation to work in the Willowemoc.

The project is on schedule and on budget to be completed by Dec. 30, at $1.7 million.