SLINGERLANDS: All work on the new County Rail Road Bridge was halted this morning as the structure collapsed. An investigation is underway to find the cause and determine a new plan for the stretch.
According to Albany County, workers were pouring concrete for the roadbed this morning when the steel girders buckled and collapsed. No one was injured at the scene.
“Construction has been temporarily halted on the bridge pending an investigation to determine what happened and why,” said Albany County Communications Director Mary Rozak.
We will report the cause when the information is available.
The old bridge was a 100-year-old relic of the Delaware and Hudson Railroad. It is being replaced by a new two-girder bridge. The $1.9 million extension will replace the aging 42-foot-long structure while raising it 15 feet, 6 inches above the road to meet state requirements.
The County had obtained the bridge in 2008 despite a report that found the metal structure and surrounding concrete to be in poor condition. Since then, the stretch has been incorporated into the popular rail trail, used by pedestrians and cyclists between Voorheesville and Albany.
Two years later, the county was asked to make temporary repairs after a New York State Department of Transportation report warned that the bridge’s “carrying capacity” was in jeopardy.
Construction of the new bridge was scheduled to begin in the summer of 2020; however, the outbreak of COVID-19 that spring halted those plans. A lawsuit with Sprint Communication was settled last year, and the County agreed to cover the costs of moving the communication lines that currently run over the bridge.
In 2019, the County estimated that the bridge had been hit nine times in the previous 11 years. A Queensbury motorist was arrested in 2021 after driving the cement truck operating on the bridge. The truck remained under the bridge for hours, causing the roadway to be closed before the truck could be removed.
The new construction is expected to allow the neighboring Slingerlands Fire District to travel under the bridge, improving response times. The south sidewalk of New Scotland Road will be removed, allowing for an ADA-compliant sidewalk on the opposite side. The wider roadway should also provide curbs for cyclists.
