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By Cathy Woodruff, staff writer

Q: Why hasn’t the bridge that goes over Route 85 near the Tollgate Ice Cream store been taken down by now?

It is in awful shape, and I really worry that one day it will crumble even more and fall on me. I’ve also seen many trucks get stuck under the bridge since I’ve lived in Voorheesville.

The bridge was long ago abandoned by trains, yet it sits there decaying more each day.

— Deb Smith, Voorheesville

A: This is one of nine former Delaware & Hudson Railway bridges that are part of a route planned for conversion to a recreational “rail trail” for hikers, bikers, cross-country skiers and snowshoers.

Albany County and Canadian Pacific Railway, which owns the old D&H line, reached agreement for the county to buy the nine-mile stretch between Voorheesville and Albany in December.

But since CP Rail has had no practical interest in fixing the bridge, as it’s no longer used by trains, it likely will be Albany County’s responsibility to see that repairs are done, if and when the sale is finalized.

The county now is in a period of “due diligence” work. The tasks during this period include surveys, title search, environmental analyses, soil tests, and structural inspections of the nine bridges along the corridor.

“We are aware that the bridge is in need of repair, but right now it’s not in our possession,” Duryea said.

If all goes well, the county would complete its due diligence work later this year, close the sale and move into high gear with planning and design.

It’s unlikely the construction would be finished before the fall of 2010, at best, and one of the factors is sure to be the extent of the deterioration on those bridges and what sort of attention they will require.

The purchase price negotiated for the rail line is $700,000, with half of that coming from a state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation grant and half from the nonprofit group Scenic Hudson, Inc.

It’s unclear how much construction of the trail will cost, and the county plans to seek money from grants and other sources to help pay for the work. The rail trail is included on the Capital Region’s formal Transportation Improvement Plan, which is a required step to make it eligible for federal funding.

If you want to know more, you can check out a portion of the Albany County Web site dedicated to information on the rail trail, with maps and photos. The address is:

Q: Why does New York have so many Route 9s? Is it a lack of imagination or did DOT run out of numbers? We have 9A, 9H, 9G, 9J, 9W, and the list goes on. Why won’t DOT just change the numbers?

— Kevin Lynch, Clifton Park

A: The unlettered Route 9 came first. It is a U.S. highway that extends 325 miles from Manhattan to the Clinton County town of Champlain, just short of the Canadian border.

The U.S. highway designation, which you can discern from the shape of the shield on the Route 9 identification signs, indicates its origin as part of the federal highway system — even though it is maintained by the state Department of Transportation as part of New York’s road system.

Most of the 9-plus-letter routes were established as state roads, though there are exceptions, such as Route 9W in Albany County, which also got its designation back in the 1920s as part of the U.S. system.

In general, the 9-plus-letter routes got their names because they were spurs or loops that had their starting and ending points on the main Route 9. Because Route 9 is such a long road, it spawned a lot of loops and spurs.

Around here, you’ll find Route 9J, which breaks from Route 9 in Rensselaer to hug the Hudson River before meeting up with 9 again in Stockport, Columbia County.

In Saratoga County, Route 9P breaks from Route 9 at Malta and Saratoga Springs to loop around Saratoga Lake. Most everyone knows Route 9N, which shows up in Saratoga Springs and continues northbound, reuniting with Route 9 in Warren County before steaming northbound on its own again along Lake George and winding up in Clinton County.

The lettering system is a little like the federal Interstate numbering system: two digits for main Interstate routes (like I-87 and I-90) and three digits for spurs and beltways (like I-787 along the Hudson River from Albany north to Green Island and I-890 around Schenectady).

State DOT does have a program to gradually renumber routes that have letter suffixes, and no new letter-suffix routes are being added to the system, said agency spokesman Peter Van Keuren.

But the existing suffix route names “will be changed only if reconstruction of the highway results in a more efficient and convenient route number that would make renumbering practical,” he said.

“When considering a route number change, we seek input from affected communities, businesses, emergency services and other agencies, if appropriate,” Van Keuren said, since changing route names can have implications for all.

Van Keuren said the most recent route name change in this DOT region was in Essex County, where a road leading to Crown Point Bridge was changed from Route 910L to Route 185 to help emergency services responders.

“Getting There” is compiled by staff writer Cathy Woodruff. Have a question about transportation? Call 454-5020 or e-mail Include your name, town and telephone number.

Categories: General
Jon Campbell

2 Responses

  1. Jack Thomas says:


  2. SickTrail says:




    You can’t hire a professional construction cost estimator to

