Temporary Fix Coming for Woodbury Residents After Year Long Bridge Closure

HIGHLAND MILLS, NY (VINnews/Sandy Eller) – A temporary bridge being installed on Orange County roadway will finally provide welcome relief to area residents, who have been dealing with a road closure at the site for more than a year.

Village of Woodbury Mayor Andrew Giacamozza told VIN News that an improper repair made years ago, coupled with poor maintenance, left the Ridge Road bridge just west of County Route 105 deteriorating. Various storms have washed out the footings of the 90 year old bridge, undermining its safety, but fixing the structure has turned out to be a lengthy process, with approvals from various government agencies required in order for the work to proceed.

With winter approaching and nearby Acres Road in the Village of Palm Tree also closed for repairs, Giacamozza felt that it was important for Woodbury to take steps to ease the burden on area residents, many of whom have been inconvenienced for months by the bridge closure.

“In addition to dealing with various government agencies, our consultants have been facing staffing issues and the entire world is dealing with supply issues,” said Giacamozza. “This has been the perfect storm of what it is like to work on a bridge with a tributary running underneath.”

The temporary bridge is expected to be delivered by Thanksgiving, with installation beginning shortly thereafter, reopening Ridge Road to area residents. Once all of the necessary approvals are in place, Woodbury will close Ridge Road once again in order to install the permanent structure, a short term project that is expected to take place by late spring. While a municipal agreement between the Town of Woodbury and the Village of Woodbury leaves the town financially responsible for the bridge, the town and the village will be sharing the cost of the work until reimbursements can by made by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Giacamozza credited Palm Tree officials for postponing its own repairs on Acres Road in light of the ongoing Ridge Road closure, noting that village officials pushed off their own work as long as possible in order to minimize the hardship on area residents.

According to the Times Herald Record (https://bit.ly/3FFoFFp), the previous repair to the Ridge Road bridge was made in 2004 after a large part of a retaining wall crumbled and fell into Woodbury Creek, which runs next to and under the road. At the time, the half mile closure had residents detouring an extra three miles every time they traveled to Central Valley or Monroe for months, while police and first responders were faced with an extra 15 minutes of traveling to emergency calls.

The previous closure was also a lengthy one, with an estimated 600 homes affected, a number that has grown exponentially since that time with significant development in the area over the past 18 years. According to then-highway superintendent Peter Stabile, the Ridge Road bridge was adversely affected by the weight of heavy trucks and school buses, which exceeded its original usage, as well as water pressure from Woodbury Creek. As with the current repair project, the effort to fix the bridge in 2024 were stalled for a significant length of time because of the need to get DEC approvals for any work affecting the creek, which is a protected town-spawning stream.