Sunset Avenue footbridge rebuild on the horizon
City engineer anticipates project will be ready for bid in early 2015
A historic pedestrian bridge damaged during Hurricane Sandy may finally be fully rebuilt soon.
The bridge, which connects Emory Street between Sunset and Fifth avenues, has remained barricaded since days after the Oct. 29, 2012 storm after it suffered structural damage and was deemed unsafe.
Project specifications for a full replacement bridge are currently being prepared by City Engineer Joe Cunha, Cunha told the Sun.
“It is anticipated that the project will be ready for bid in late first quarter 2015,” he said, adding that “a firm bid date will be provided to the council-elect in short order.”
The city was approved for $625,671 in FEMA funds for the bridge’s full replacement as well as repairs to some of the lake boundary areas, he said.
The total includes bridge and abutment reconstruction costs at $570,743, a replacement bulkhead for the east end of the lake at $52,389 and administrative costs that total just over $2,500.
Mayor-elect John Moor said the bridge “goes back to the turn of the century” and was originally a part of the route trolley cars used to bring tourists around the city in its former heyday. He even owns one of the original caps worn by one of the trolley conductors, complete with a train schedule written on the inside of the cap from the summer of 1921.
Design-build specifications will be presented to the council at an upcoming meeting, Cunha said.
During the public portion of the Jan. 16, 2013 council meeting, city resident Werner Baumgartner encouraged city officials to use natural materials.
“You really shouldn’t consider any synthetic materials at all,” he said at the meeting. “Natural materials are the way to go with this bridge. It’s part of an urban landscape that’s one of the oldest landscapes in this entire city. That corridor of Sunset Park and Sunset Lake is a significant asset to the city in historic terms and landscape terms.”
Cunha would not disclose any of the design or material specifications prior to presenting them to council.
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