MOUNT KISCO, N.Y. - Mount Kisco officials are scrambling to deal with the fallout after one of the village’s bridges was ordered closed for safety reasons.
The Preston Way Bridge, a 70-year-old span that carried traffic over the Metro North Railroad tracks from Kisco Avenue to North Bedford Road, was suddenly shut by state Department of Transportation’s decree on Wednesday, Dec. 3.
The findings from a previous DOT inspection had required the lowering of the bridge’s weight limits to five tons last March. The most recent one reportedly reduced that to two or three tons, which meant closing it altogether.
(Three tons, or 6,000 pounds, is roughly the weight of one large SUV or pickup truck, a few compact cars, or many small motorcycles.)
That was the deciding factor. At that limit, it was "too dangerous" to keep the bridge open, according to village Trustee Tom Luzio.
Concrete barriers were erected and county police were deployed that Wednesday to help direct traffic as motorists got used to the new situation.
Preston Way has been targeted for replacement for quite a while, but the project has been delayed due to a dispute between the village and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority over who actually owns it.
VILLAGE EXPLAINS
The village announced the closure on its website that day but gave no immediate reasons for it.
On Monday, Dec. 8, however, it issued a statement noting that it has been in contact with state and county officials, engineering and traffic consultants, first responders, local businesses, residents, and the Bedford Central School District’s transportation folks,
According to Village Manager Ed Brancati, it’s also been in “constant contact” with the DOT to facilitate plans to inform drivers and reroute traffic throughout the community.
That includes formalizing detours, he said, adding that signs have also been placed on the Saw Mill River Parkway and Interstate 684 alerting drivers to the closure.
Village officials are aworking with the state and Metro North “on an equitable solution to resolving the bridge’s structural issues as,” Brancati said, “we all have ownership and maintenance responsibility of the bridge.”
Acknowledging that the closure “is a major inconvenience,” the village said it “would have preferred advance notice from the DOT in order to inform the public.”
“Please know that the safety and well-being of Mount Kisco’s residents and visitors are paramount,” the village said, promising to update the public whenever further information became available.
POLS WEIGH IN
State Sen. Pete Harckham (D-40th District) said that he was calling on the MTA “to come to the table immediately with Mount Kisco village officials to develop a fair and timely plan to fund and expediate the replacement of Preston Way Bridge.”
“The village should not be left to shoulder this burden alone, especially at a time when the MTA has funding available for capital projects,” he said, adding that the closure of what he called a “vital artery” will create “significant hardship for thousands of shoppers, employees, and small businesses.”
Westchester County Legislator Erika L. Pierce (D-District 2), chair of the county’s Public Works and Transportation Committee, noted that concerns over the bridge’s safety “have been well documented for years.”
The village has been negotiating with the state and the MTA over funding and replacement/repair options, she said, asserting that those discussions “will now need to speed up.”
The estimated cost of replacing the bridge is $8.6 million.
The village has in hand a $5 million BRIDGE NY grant and is pursuing other funding sources.
The MTA has, according to officials, committed to covering some of the labor costs – such as flagging –attached to the project.
There are two other bridges in town over the Metro-North tracks and the village is worried that if it agrees to shoulder most, if not all, of the costs it will be held responsible for those as well should they need to be repaired or replaced.
(The bridge is also supposed to be closed to pedestrians, but there are reports of folks walking across it anyway. The DOT is placing signage relative to the detour. Maybe, some say, signs should be posted warning people to keep off it – at least for now.)
Pierce said the county recently had to close one of its own bridges, so she had “some familiarity with the process.”
She emphasized that Preston Way is NOT a county bridge and it has NO role in the project.
Pierce, who lives in Katonah, has “reached out” to Mount Kisco Mayor J. Michael Cindrich, state representatives, and public safety and emergency services, so, she said, “that the best possible plan can be put in place for the residents of, and visitors to, Mount Kisco.”
It is especially troublesome that the Preston Way shutdown is coming at “a time when projects like this are becoming increasingly expensive because of the impacts of tariffs and uncertainty in the construction industry,” Pierce said.
As the BOL’s Public Works and Transportation chair, she shared that the county is seeing bids that are 20 to 30 percent higher than estimates and that projects “are taking longer than expected.”
“Patience will be important for the months ahead. But most importantly, resident safety must be paramount, and so as discussions continue, that is being kept front and center,” Pierce wrote in a Facebook post.
Motorists weren’t faring well during the first few days of the shutdown. Many complained that the required detour was taking them at least 20 minutes to traverse and hinted that they were thinking of shopping elsewhere.
Halston Media has learned that the DOT is gathering data that it will use to possibly recalibrate traffic lights in the hope of helping speed things along.
RESIDENTS STRUGGLE
The closure poses more than mere inconvenience for the folks who live at Pinecrest Manor, a Section 8 housing project on nearby Amuso Drive that serves seniors and folks with disabilities.
It’s located off Kisco Avenue, on the other side of the Saw Mill River Parkway. Many of Pinecrest’s residents have no cars and are on very limited incomes.
They can’t afford the cab fare to get back and forth from Target, Stop and Shop, and other stores on Route 117, so they walk or use their electric wheelchairs.
Pinecrest’s manager, Vickie Nikprelaj, outraged after the news broke, claiming that the village had not given her sufficient notice.
“How are they supposed to get there now?” she asked in a social media post, adding: “Shame on the people who decided to do this without letting us know.”
A few days later, the village stepped up with a handicapped-compliant van to take Pinecrest folks shopping.
Nikprelaj was trying to get tenants together for a meeting to talk about their transportation needs.
Once those are determined, Pinecrest will confab with the village on a more permanent schedule.
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