Fairport residents have roughly a year to prepare for the temporary closing of the village’s iconic lift bridge.
The lift bridge will be closed starting in spring of 2019 for at least a year while it’s rehabilitated, according to Village Manager Bryan White. Details on the exact nature of the repairs aren’t available yet but White say the fixes will be key to maintaining the bridge another 50 to 100 years.
“Essentially, the lift bridge needs to be rehabbed,” he said. It’s over 100 years old. The bridge requires some general maintenance and that type of thing. Pulley systems and the mechanical systems need to be rehabbed and so forth.”
Repairs on the bridge are part of the New York State Department of Transportation’s initiative to fix up bridges along Routes 250 and 259. Officials held a public meeting Thursday evening to update residents on the bridge repairs and possible detour routes.
“It’s important people know Fairport is still open for business,” White said. He added while detour paths aren’t nailed down yet, they will be clear by the bridge’s closure.
“The bridge needs to be repaired regardless but what we’re trying to do here is educate the public on why it’s being done, what’s the scope of work, what’s the estimated time frame and we’re trying to just mitigate the impact as best we can,” he said.