FORT PLAIN- The state Department of Transportation recently announced it will be working on a few bridges in the area.
Jim Piccola, a spokesman for DOT, said the Route 80 bridge in Fort Plain and three bridges on Route 5S – two over the Schoharie Creek and one over Pitcher Street in Amsterdam – will be worked on once the weather gets warmer.
Piccola said that the Route 80 bridge work will include repairing the substructure of the bridge, specifically Gusset plates, which act as part of the trusses on the bridge.
Angela Chiricosta, an engineer with DOT, said the three other bridges would receive some minor concrete and substructure work.
Piccola said after the repairs, three of the bridges would receive a new coat of paint as a preventive measure against further decay. The other bridge, a bike path over the Schoharie creek, will only be cleaned.
Piccola said construction on the Route 80 bridge will prevent vehicles from going across it from June 24 to Aug. 30, but it will be open to pedestrian traffic. Piccola said there will be detours set up.
The main reason the repairs are being done in the summer is to avoid causing traffic jams during school hours, he said.
The contractor on the project is Reale Construction, out of Ticonderoga, who put in a low bid of $2.4 million.
