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Saving time and thousands of dollars, the Southampton Town Highway Department placed a prefab bridge over the deteriorated existing structure on Jobs Lane in Bridgehampton. KITTY MERRILL
It's just one lane, but the temporary prefab bridge on JObs Lane in Bridgehampton saved the Town Highway Department thousands, if not millions of dollars. KITTY MERRILL
A prefab bridge placed atop the deteriorating structure on Jobs Lane in Bridgehampton will allow the Town Highway Department to bring heavy paving equipment to Dune Road. KITTY MERRILL
With the existing bridge on Jobs Lane not strong enough to handle heavy equipment, Town Highway Superintendent Charles McArdle had a temporary prefab structure placed last week. It saves millions in bridge repairs, and will allow workers to pave Dune Road and beach parking lots in Bridgehampton. KITTY MERRILL
This week, Southampton Town Highway Superintendent Charles McArdle credited his deputy, Marc Braeger, with coming up with a solution to a weighty conundrum: fixing the Jobs Lane Bridge to Dune Road in Bridgehampton.
In need of repair, the bridge is certified to handle no more than 8 tons. That’s about the weight of an ordinary box truck, the superintendent said. Heavy equipment needed to repave Dune Road, like a tractor-trailer hauling asphalt, can tip the scales at as much as five times the bridge’s weight-bearing maximum.
McArdle noted that private contractors working on Dune Road might disregard the weight restriction, threatening further deterioration of the elderly overpass, but added, “I wasn’t going to be the one to do that.”
McArdle said his predecessor, Alex Gregor, cited the fact that the bridge couldn’t handle heavy trucks when, for years, community members asked for road repairs.
Replacing the bridge would come with a multimillion-dollar price tag. So Braeger came up with an outside-the-box solution — and last week a rented prefabricated bridge was installed over the existing bridge.
It costs about $30,000 to rent for a month — compared to $3 million for a wholesale bridge replacement — and can handle the heft of heavy equipment. “It can cover everything we need to do,” McArdle said.
The savings means, he said, that not only can the long-awaited and desired repaving of a mile-long stretch of Dune Road from Mecox Beach to W. Scott Cameron Beach take place, but highway staff can also repave the parking lots at both beaches.
Because the prefab bridge is just one lane wide, temporary traffic lights have been set up at each end. Installation took place on Monday, April 17. It arrived on a trailer, and highway staff used town equipment to lift it up and place it.
Now, McArdle is wondering whether the town might buy a prefab bridge to replace the existing one. He reckoned it would cost about $250,000 for a ready-made two-lane bridge.
