Orchard Park bridge will close on Monday
The Freeman Road bridge in Orchard Park will be closed starting Monday.
The bridge, a multigirder steel structure owned by Erie County, is being replaced.
In its place will be a precast concrete arch bridge, expected to cost $1.7 million.
The project also includes reconstruction of the dam on Smokes Creek that creates the Freeman Road pond.
According to the Erie County Public Works Department, the existing bridge was considered to be in a “deteriorated condition,” and a 16-ton limit had to be placed on it.
Federal funds will pay for 80 percent of the project, the state will fund 15 percent and the county dollars will pay the remaining 5 percent.
Concrete Applied Technologies Corp. of Alden was the winning bidder on the job.
“It should be a beautiful-looking bridge,” said Orchard Park Mayor John Wilson. “My only concern is local traffic going on village streets to get around it . . . There are some things we have to endure, but if people stay on the county detour it would be good.”
Work on the bridge is expected to continue through the end of the year, but County Public Works Commissioner Gerard Sentz said the county hopes “to see the road open for traffic before the snow flies.”
Restoration work, such as landscaping, will then continue through next spring.
As part of the project, the county has purchased the spillway beneath the bridge from two private owners. When the dam and bridge are complete, the spillway will be turned over to the Village of Orchard Park.
Freeman Pond is man-made, created by members of the Freeman family in the 1800s. It was used to harvest ice during the winter for refrigeration.
