Bridge project nearing completion

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By Dan King

After two years of work on the Poultney Street Bridge, traffic will soon be easing up in Whitehall.

The temporary signal lights on the bridge were removed Saturday, when the state Department of Transportation workers completed the new paint job for the bridge. Those lights will not be going back up either.

“Over the next few weeks we’ll be paving the road and painting the new lines on the road,” said Bryan Viggiani, DOT public information officer. “During that time there will be flaggers at each end of the bridge with orange flags and the bridge will be working on a single alternating lane.”

Asked if that would help alleviate traffic, Viggiani said, “absolutely.”

“The flaggers won’t be there day and night like the lights, they’ll just be there when we’re working on it,” he added.
In addition to the paving and painting of the new lines, Viggiani said the state will be finishing up some work underneath the bridge, which won’t impact vehicular traffic.

The estimated completion date, established when this project began was Nov. 30, has since been moved up to Nov. 13 and Viggiani thinks it could be completed even sooner.

“I think we should be out of there before the completion date, as long as the weather cooperates. Things have been coming along well with this project,” Viggiani added. “We appreciate people’s patience with this project, it’s obviously important work that needs to be done.”

In addition to being on time, the project appears to be on budget as well.

The initial contract was awarded at a cost of $5,555,556 and $121,134 approved changes were made to the budget, leaving a total cost of $5,676,689. That money comes from state and federal funding, strictly; no money is being allocated from the village or town of Whitehall for the project.