September 3rd, 2020

Monroe County Executive Adam Bello on Wednesday reopened Webster’s Salt Road bridge over Four Mile Creek to traffic. The reconstructed bridge incorporates repurposed precast concrete deck panels from the former Tappan Zee Bridge over the Hudson River, saving local taxpayers more than $100,000 in material costs.

“The reconstructed Salt Road bridge is an excellent example of the state and county working together to complete a project that will benefit our whole community,” said Bello. “I am grateful to Gov. Cuomo and the state Thruway Authority for making salvageable parts of the former Tappan Zee Bridge available to localities in order to keep costs down for our vital infrastructure projects.”

The new steel and concrete bridge, completed by the Monroe County Department of Transportation’s team of C&S Engineers and C.P. Ward, features two 11-foot travel lanes and widened six-foot shoulders on both sides to better accommodate pedestrians and bicyclists. The $900,000 project replaces an open steel grate bridge originally constructed in 1952. Design of the new bridge began in 2018, after routine inspections revealed that the existing span was nearing the end of its useful life.

Demolition of the old bridge and construction of the new structure began in May. Approximately 1,000 vehicles travel over the bridge each day.

In 2018, the state Thruway Authority made 135 50-foot long deck panels from the Tappan Zee bridge available to New York’s municipalities free of charge. Monroe County obtained 31 of the 10-year-old panels; this was the first project in Western New York to utilize them. The county has enough panel pieces to complete an additional 8 to 10 future bridge reconstruction projects.

The Salt Road bridge project was featured in the September 2020 issue of the Institute of Transportation Engineers Journal.