(Photo Source: Unsplash).
The project to replace the McGraw-Marathon Road bridge, a close to 90-year-old mainstay for residents of the villages of Marathon and McGraw, is on track to start in the summer.
Cortland County Highway Superintendent Charles Sudbrink noted on Tuesday the plans to replace the bridge, which is showing structural aging signs, has been in the works since at least 2018. The county was awarded $2.245 million in state funds from the Bridge New York program that same year.
According to BridgeNY guidelines, the grant program bases its evaluations on the structural condition of the bridges, as well as its resiliency and significance based upon traffic volumes, detour considerations, and the commercial impact of the bridges.
The Cortland County Legislature recently summoned a special meeting to approve supplemental agreements with the state, passing unanimously, which will help kickstart the bids process.
(Photo Source: Cortland County Highway Department)
“The designs are all done and the supplemental agreements have been approved. Now, we are just going to wait for the state to give us the go ahead to advertise for bids. Hopefully we get some competitive bids and get it done this summer,” Sudbrink said. He added he expects the bidding process to start at the end of March, leading to an expected construction to start in June, and culminating in the completion of the project in the fall.
The bridge, which Subdrink noted was built in the 1930s, is currently a dual-arch concrete structure, but the concrete is at the end of its lifecycle. The new project will be made with steel girders, and will be similar to the bridge in Blodgett Mills, he added.
(Photo Source: Cortland County Highway Department)
“(The McGraw-Marathon Road bridge) is one of our higher trafficked county roads. A lot of people use it to go from Marathon to McGraw and vice versa,” Sudbrink said. He added that according to traffic counts from 2016 to 2018, the bridge is used by around 1,000 cars every day.
There will be a “four-to-five-minute detour” on Albro Road in Marathon, “a little over two-miles long,” when construction starts, Sudbrink said.
