Lengthy closures expected for two heavily traveled canal bridges

Victoria E. Freile | Democrat and Chronicle

Show Caption Hide Caption Meet Al Lovell, lift bridge operator Erie Canal lift bridge operator Al Lovell talks about his job.

A $7.2 million project is in the works to rebuild lift bridges that span the Erie Canal in Fairport and Spencerport.

The New York State Department of Transportation is developing the project, which has currently scheduled construction to begin in early 2019 and last two years.

The project could mean lengthy closures of busy bridges in the two canal villages — about a year in Fairport and 18 months in Spencerport. Both bridges span the Erie Canal and are main thoroughfares in their respective communities.

According to the DOT, more than 11,000 vehicles travel across the lift bridge in Fairport daily and more than 15,000 vehicles per day cross Spencerport's lift bridge.

"This is a busy village and Main Street is a busy street," said Fairport Mayor Fritz May. "We need a lot of planning to make that happen."

DOT officials have informed Fairport that the Main Street (Route 250) lift bridge could be closed for about 12 months for the work to be completed, May said. Construction could begin as early as January 2019 and would include repairing the beams supporting the bridge and replacing bridge mechanics.

And there will be times, he said, that pedestrians won't be allowed to cross the bridge.

"The bridge has to be done, there's no question about it," he said. "But we need to make sure we have ways for people to get around the village in place. We don't want people to skirt around the village completely, we want to make sure they come into Fairport to support businesses while the work is underway."

Spencerport Mayor Gary Penders said he expects Spencerport's lift bridge on North Union Street (Route 259) to be closed for up to 18 months while the century-old bridge is rebuilt.

"It's our main access across the canal, so the faster they get it done, the better," Penders said. "Is it going to be an inconvenience? Of course it is. But it is something that needs to be done."

Traversing the village will become an issue once the bridge is closed, he said, as the only other bridge that spans the Erie Canal in Spencerport is a one-lane bridge on Martha Street.

According to the DOT, the project will allow crews to improve the bridges' lifting mechanisms "to provide reliable and safe operation during canal navigation season."

The project is set to go out to bid next summer, according to the DOT.

Both bridges are more than 100 years old, but have had recent upgrades.

The Fairport lift bridge closed for about six weeks in 2006 so DOT crews could replace steel cables and other worn components on the bridge. May said the merchants in the village created a pedestrian-friendly campaign to encourage visitors to visit, despite the closure. The bridge was again closed for about three weeks in 2013 for additional repairs.

Spencerport's lift bridge, also known as the Union Street bridge, closed for the first four months of 2015, so DOT crews could reinforce the structural steel members on the underside of the bridge. The bridge had deteriorated and wasn't strong enough to hold small trucks. The work restored the bridge's weight limit to 12 tons, Penders said.

VFREILE@Gannett.com