Erie-Lackawanna Railroad Bridge

David Skinner, a friend of mine who has urged the city and the University of Rochester to open the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad Bridge to foot and bicycle traffic, passed along some good news on Friday. Tom Hack, a Project Engineer with the city, wrote to him:

"I have good news about the ELRR Bridge "Rails to Trails" Project. We have secured $1.2M from a 50-50 matching State Program. The State kicks in $600,000 and the City matches this with $600,000. We just received the agreement from the State, have signed it and it's back on the Governor's desk. The good thing with this is that it's considered "old" money and should be sheltered from recent budget cuts. Our schedule at this point, barring anything crazy out of Albany, is as follows:

Solicit a Design Consultant................. Jan - Feb 2010
Undertake site reconnaissance and survey.....Feb -April 2010
Begin preparation of alternatives .......... April - May 2010
Host Citizens Advisory Meetings ............ May -June 2010
Layout alternatives ........................ June-July 2010
Host public meetings ....................... August 2010
Finalize concepts .......................... Sept 2010
Finalize design ............................ Sept - Jan 2010
Issue Construction Contracts ............... Jan 2011
Construction phase...........................April 2011
Open Bridge................................. Sept 2011

We've received a lot of community support along with the U of R's direct support. This has helped a lot in allowing the funds to flow and the project to move forward."

The bridge hasn't seen any railroad traffic since the 1970s. Once opened to pedestrian and cyclist traffic, it will provide another link between the East and West-side river trails. The Genesee Transportation Council has a detailed report on the project at:

http://www.gtcmpo.org/Docs/PlansStudies/ErieLackawannaRRBridgeTrailStudy.pdf

-- Gary Young