TROY – The cities of Watervliet and Troy are launching a study of the Congress Street Bridge that aims to transform the communities’ relationship with the 49-year-old structure by finding ways to make it a welcoming gateway for each city.

Troy wants to integrate the bridge into a restored street network that would reopen River Street as a direct thoroughfare connecting Downtown to the neighborhoods to the south along the Hudson River. Watervliet wants to provide access from the bridge to Hudson Shores Park which it passes over making it easier for pedestrians and bicyclists to enter.

“It’s a study to see what each municipality wants to do with the bridge. It serves as a gateway for both of the cities,” Watervliet Mayor Michael Manning said Monday.

“There’s a lot of potential there,” Troy Councilman Anasha Cummings, whose 4th Council District includes the bridge, said about providing better access to the Hudson River, the bike trail and neighborhoods.

The Congress Street Bridge not only links the two cities – historically part of Watervliet was known as West Troy – but it serves as a major commuter route carrying Route 2 over the Hudson River. Built in 1970 to replace another bridge, the current structure has seen repairs made to it. The bridge will be 50-years-old in 2020.

The two cities have agreed to work together on the $200,000 feasibility study redesigning the bridge approaches on either side of the Hudson River. Each community will pay $15,000 toward the $30,000 local share for the study with the state supplying $170,000.

“It’s the entrance and exit for both of us,” Manning said.

Cummings and Manning agreed that changing the way the bridge enters into their communities would be a positive impact.

To continue development of Downtown and connect it to the southern part of the city, Cummings said it would need to get rid of the interstate-style ramps on the Troy side of the bridge and integrate it into the city street scape.

“Extension of the downtown will require the replacement of the Congress Street bridge ramps and the reconfiguration of the River Street and bridge connection into a signalized urban intersection,” Troy’s “Realize Troy Comprehensive Plan” states.

The Realize Troy envisions a “new street network that includes Front Street running parallel to the Hudson River, the extension of River Street, and the extension of local east-west streets to create a fully connected street grid within the district.”

Eliminating the ramps on the Troy side would help in the redevelopment of the Troy Housing Authority’s John P. Taylor Apartments public housing site that sit at the entrance to the bridge. THA is working with the Philadelphia-based development firm Pennrose LLC and the Troy Local Development Corp. to eventually knock down the four apartment buildings and make the site a Hudson Riverfront gateway into the city.

For Watervliet, adding access to Hudson Shores Park from the bridge would provide another entrance. Manning said it would be a way to get directly from downtown and over I-787 into the park.