Tuesday, May 06, 2008

WHY DOES IT TAKE NY TWO YEARS TO BUILD A BRIDGE AND CALIFORNIA 4 MONTHS?

After the new residents reception tonight (which was very well attended--over 150 people), some of the new residents met to discuss our comprehensive plan. One comment made an impression:
The resident is from California. We were discussing the proposed two year reconstruction of the Ashford Ave bridge. This bridge connects Ardsley with Dobbs Ferry. In California, after the earthquakes, the bridges were rebuilt within 4 months. Why does it take so long for NY bridges to be re-built? 4 months vs. 2 years?

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

If there were earthquake damage to a major urban thoroughfare, I'd imagine NYS resources could be reallocated in such an emergency situation. While the Dobbs-Ardsley bridge certainly does need to be replaced, it is not a major thoroughfare (in the big picture of NYS) and it's not an emergency situation. We'll just have to be patient, and become accustomed to using 119, Ravensdale, and Ogden/Lawrence. Whimpering about it won't help. I hope that the town management will have an intelligent traffic management system in place for the increased rush hour traffic flow at Lawrence/9A during the bridge reconstruction.

P.S. I think I heard that the bridge will be partially open during its reconstruction? Perhaps encourage the state to just close the bridge completely to speed up the reconstruction timeline.

P.P.S. Perhaps the Dobbs Ferry school children who attend Ardsley schools could be authorized to attend Dobbs Ferry schools during the bridge reconstruction period. I've never understood the rationale for any Dobbs Ferry kids attending Ardsley schools; probably some antiquated district line that could now be updated as a result of this bridge situation.

Anonymous said...

Dunno!

Sounds reasonable to me given that it takes 1 1/2 years to get a flood study done.

Anonymous said...

And what about the almost two years that it took the MTA to "renovate" the Hartsdale train station pedestrian overpass?

An overpass with windows that are too high to either look through or be observed from outside when crossing through late at night. If we had muggers,
this would be their primo location.

If Greenburgh is concerned, perhaps we could loan them Al Regula whose motto is "don't lower the bridge, raise the water".
Even for bridges that don't span water.

Anonymous said...

WHY DOES IT TAKE NY TWO YEARS TO BUILD A BRIDGE AND CALIFORNIA 4 MONTHS?

We have less time to work because we spend a lot of time pondering these inane questions raised by government officials.

Anonymous said...

We don't have to read this blog, open up topics and them make comments on matters that we have judged to be inane; that would be insane.

Anonymous said...

Hal,

You're right!

I suppose we are all insane then.

I wonder if insane people build bridges faster. Hmmmm.........

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately, the topic is reminiscient of the old joke:
"How many DPW employees does it take to change a light bulb?"

Anonymous said...

Q: How many DPW employees does it take to fix the curb in front of your home?

A: None! It will never, ever be fixed.

Anonymous said...

wE HAVE TOO MANY CROOKED POLITICIANS THAT HAVE THEIR HANDS OUT.
The longer the job last everyone is happy because the money keeps rolling in.
Do you think the unions want a job to finish in a few months?
There's graft throughout this industry starting from the top.
One just has to read the newspapers to see how much money passes from one hand to another.

Anonymous said...

"Do you think the unions want a job to finish in a few months?"

In general, I'd tend to agree. But there is so much demand in NYS for bridge repair/replacement and plenty of long-term job security.

Anonymous said...

Last week the Scarsdale Inquirer reported that Richard Brodsky did not support reforms of the wicks law. We need state lawmakers who will fight to do the right thing. Tom Abinanti for Assembly!

Anonymous said...

We all know that Brodsky has got to go.
He's starting to play nice nice to Edgemont .
Could it be possible that he is running again and needs the votes.
Please get someone that is alive to fill his seat.

Anonymous said...

Get rid of the county seat and you will see how fast things move in the right directions.
Having a middleman in today world of business is the worse thing not to get things done .
Too much money is involved and too many hands are there to accept it.

Anonymous said...

Keep the County government and get rid of Town and Village governments - it's been done - in Denver - good track record of continually lower property taxes.

Anonymous said...

Abinanti is a reformer. Brodsky is not.