Sunday afternoon, January 21: Except for the dull background rumble of passing traffic, all is quiet on what used to be the southern approach to the Brookside Road overpass spanning the New York State Thruway in New Paltz. Evoking long-necked dinosaurs with their heads downcast — lost perhaps in reveries on themes of extinction and adaptation — four enormous yellow excavators stand in a melancholy row, their labors done for now. Despite temperatures in the teens, the state demolition crew came in the night, and by morning had finished the job that they’d started on January 13.
For two nights, the Thruway between Exits 17 and 18 had been shut down in one direction. For one week, there had been half an overpass standing: an odd, unsettling sight in peacetime, in a part of the country not beset by earthquakes. Now there is none in that spot. But life had already changed dramatically for residents of that southeastern neighborhood of New Paltz and those of Clintondale on the other side of the Thruway. The Brookside Road crossing has been closed to all traffic since May 2022, the structural integrity of the 1950s-vintage overpass compromised due to a long history of being struck by overly tall trucks.
“The Brookside Road overpass has been hit by over-height vehicles ten times in the past year and 28 times since 2019. These repeated collisions have resulted in considerable damage to the steel that supports the overpass and decreased the amount of weight it can safely carry. Following regular monitoring and multiple inspections, Thruway and consulting engineers have determined the overpass should be removed in the interest of public safety,” the Thruway Authority explained in a January 17 press release announcing the final stage of demolition.
“Built in 1954, the four-span continuous four-girder bridge carries Brookside Road (milepost 74.17) over the Thruway — one lane of traffic in each direction — in the Town of New Paltz in Ulster County. It had a vertical clearance is 14.2 feet, which has been reduced to 14 feet due to the multiple bridge strikes in both directions, including one on October 30 when its girders above the northbound lanes was [sic] struck by a truck hauling a forklift.”
All well and good; nobody wants to die in a bridge collapse. Americans have been hearing dire warnings about our crumbling national infrastructure for decades, and recently increased federal allocations for repairs haven’t been able to keep up with the pace of deterioration. But locals are already feeling like collateral damage — their routines disrupted, their travel times increased. Some, especially those with compromised health, worry that longer response times for emergency vehicles could mean the difference between life and death.
The Thruway Authority hasn’t yet announced its intentions as to whether and when the Brookside overpass will be replaced. One hypothesis expressed by New Paltz town supervisor Neil Bettez holds that no such decisions will be made until the state completes demolition of all the overpasses along the entire Thruway system that have been identified as structurally unsound; only then will a prioritization process for rebuilding begin. Allocation of funding for the phase of construction scheduled for any given year occurs at the pleasure of the State Legislature. In any case, local and county officials exercise no authority over such decisions, although they will likely be asked to supply usage data to the state at some point.
Faced with an outcry from impacted residents, Town of New Paltz officials are taking as proactive a stance as lies within their power. At its January 18 meeting, the town board authorized member Kitty Brown to write an official letter on the town’s behalf to Joanne M. Mahoney, chair of the Thruway Authority’s board of directors, urging that reconstruction of the Brookside Road overpass be included in the NYS Thruway Capital Plan, as “a matter of urgent public safety.”
Brown’s letter argues, “Since being closed in May of 2023, our residents have experienced more than inconvenience. The bridge provides vital access for schoolbuses, fire, ambulance, emergency vehicles, medical facilities, local snowplow operators and other public service vehicles. This bridge is a quality of life, local economy and vehicular efficiency issue for residents who rely on it as a daily connector to SUNY New Paltz, the Village of New Paltz, the River-to-Ridge Trail, the Mohonk Preserve and Lake Minnewaska via Route 32N and points south via Route 32S.” The letter also highlights the role of family farms in the area’s local economy and food security, and notes that the overpass serves as “an important bypass to relieve congestion on Main Street (Route 299) as motorists enter New Paltz from Exit 18.”
The latter consideration has been raised by many who don’t live in the immediate vicinity of Brookside Road, which turns into Hurds Road at its eastern end and provides a shortcut to Route 44/55 in Clintondale. “I traveled that bridge daily to get to work in Poughkeepsie; I now take 32 to South Putt to 299. It adds 15 mins to my commute each way due to the congestion on 299. I prefer to take back roads and 44/55,” Shaunte Rhodes commented on the New Paltz Community Facebook page. Patricia Johnson Frankfort posted, “As a local businessperson who delivers for a living, this southern connection was crucial for our Clintondale, Highland and Plattekill customers. It has made efficient routing more difficult.”
Others use Brookside as a way to cut over to South Ohioville Road, which parallels the Thruway, to head north and pick up Route 299 east of Exit 18, bypassing backed-up traffic in New Paltz’s busy downtown. “I used to use it all the time to avoid the lights in the Village when I drive home to Gardiner. It was a scenic timesaver,” Susanrachel Condon told HV1. “Going home that way from 87 when I’m coming back from either north or south saves me at least one traffic light, if not two or three.”
Paul V. Sutera lives about as close to the epicenter of the disruption as is possible. “The back of my property abuts the bridge approach from the north,” he tells us. “I was on the bridge four times daily… My route to downtown areas forces me through the entire Village now, from Ohioville Road. Getting my medication or spending money downtown has become a chore, and a string of five very long stoplights.” On the Facebook page, he adds, “The closure fails to take into account the considerable seasonal traffic of New York Metro area people already using Route 299. Much of Clintondale shops in New Paltz, and used Brookside bridge to enter the heart of New Paltz via Route 32. They’re now, like me, detouring several miles to Schreiber’s Lane, or accessing downtown by ‘threading the needle,’ joining Thruway traffic and adding to 299’s traffic woes.”
While some locals predict that replacement of the overpass will not be a priority, since locals have options to detour a few miles north or south, others question the structural soundness of the southern option, where South Ohioville joins Schreiber’s Lane. Commenters on Facebook have described it as “dilapidated.” “I see that the sidewalls are crumbling concrete, and the pavement is so pockmarked with potholes that the state has filled them with tar, rather than the usual patch material. I can’t see underneath. Guardrails are rusty as well,” Sutera says.
Jonathan Raskin lives close to both Brookside and Schreiber’s Lane, but prefers the former, and he has concerns about the southern bridge’s ability to absorb extra usage – not to mention the impact of additional traffic on the immediate neighborhood. “Not only is the South Ohioville overpass they are using out of their way, but it also isn’t in especially good condition. I’m quite worried about the impact all that extra traffic is having on it,” he tells us. “Anyone on the south side of New Paltz looking to head east to Poughkeepsie regularly relies on the Brookside Bridge. Everyone who lives in the area knows it is a no-brainer decision. It must be rebuilt.”
Raskin felt strongly enough about the issue to write to the Thruway Authority, reading his letter at the New Paltz Town Board meeting and urging other residents to lobby the state agency to replace the overpass by e-mailing public.info@thruway.ny.gov. Shaunte Rhodes agreed: “I think we all need to keep e-mailing the Thruway – be the squeaky wheel, so to speak.”
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