Governor backs signature bridge
By Tom Precious
- NEWS ALBANY BUREAU
Updated: 04/30/08 7:21 AM
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- This cable-stayed design by world-renowned bridge architect Christian Menn was selected by a 32-member design jury at the end of a process that involved communities on both sides of the border.
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ALBANY — Gov. David A. Paterson said he supports construction of a soaring, signature-style Peace Bridge, even though the state’s environmental conservation agency contends such a structure would pose a hazard to birds along an important migratory route.
The new governor said he will join with congressional representatives Thursday in Washington in a session to urge top federal officials to back away from a move to embrace a smaller, three-arched span instead of the 567-foot-tall bridge approved by a binational design jury in 2005.
“I want to bring about a resolution and get moving, and the resolution I would like is the one I thought we were going to have,” Paterson said of the taller bridge backed by the design jury.
Paterson said he believes the signature bridge, by renowned designer Christian Menn, will be important for the region — economically as well as symbolically.
“Whenever you have a large investment of capital in the transportation system — one of the things that made our society distinctive is it also becomes part of the culture of that region. Like when you go to San Francisco and Sausalito, it’s the Golden Gate Bridge. That’s how I saw the Peace Bridge. That’s what I thought they were trying to do when they designed it, rather than just putting a structure that’s over a waterway,” the governor said in an interview.
Less than a week earlier, the Peace Bridge Authority had said that opposition from federal and state agencies had prompted it to scrap plans for the two-tower span in favor of a more environmentally acceptable bridge that will rise only 226 feet.
Peace Bridge officials did not return calls Tuesday seeking comment.
Paterson does not have the final say in what kind of bridge is constructed — that, ultimately, is a federal decision — but his public stance now undermines an effort to stop the larger bridge by his own state environmental agency.
Last fall, the state Department of Environmental Conservation had said the taller span could affect birds and fish in the area. A significant number of birds, agency officials said, could die after hitting the proposed bridge, which would stand taller than the Washington Monument. As many as 100,000 birds fly over the area in a single day.
The Paterson administration’s decision to challenge federal and state agencies on the bridge design was welcome news to supporters of the signature bridge.
“Gov. Paterson understands just how important it is that Western New York gets a signature bridge connecting Buffalo and Fort Erie, Canada, that will fuel economic development and be a fitting gateway between the two nations,” said Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N. Y. “I look forward to working with him to make that vision a reality.
Schumer has organized Thursday’s meeting in Washington with the administrator of the Federal Highway Administration and the director of the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service to discuss the controversy. The meeting also will include other members of New York’s congressional delegation.
Just six weeks in office, Paterson has inherited a sticky political issue from Eliot L. Spitzer, who resigned as governor in disgrace.
Spitzer had made the start of construction on the long-stalled bridge a priority of his administration. But behind the scenes, Spitzer’s environmental agency last fall was working to derail the signature bridge design, as it joined with two federal agencies in outlining a series of potential problems.
The Paterson administration is trying to get a quick understanding of the issues, waiting until Tuesday to take a stand on a matter that had surfaced last week.
Paterson said the state will seek to determine how similar bridges have been built around the United States without posing the kind of problems facing the Peace Bridge.
“There have been over 150 of these cable-type bridges around the country, and they have found a way to do this without [destroying] the birds or aquatic life in the area,” said the governor, a Democrat.
Precisely how the governor’s now-public stance will affect the closed-door discussions between the state and federal officials remains unclear. Until Tuesday, the state DEC was publicly on board with federal agencies opposing the signature span.
Paterson said he understands the DEC position was instrumental in the move by the federal agencies and the Peace Bridge Authority toward a lower span. He said he will confer with DEC officials before Thursday’s meeting to determine if they wanted the signature span idea scuttled.
“I’m not sure the agency intended to do that or if they threw it up there as a caution,” Paterson said of the DEC’s position.
