NEWS

Irondequoit seeks new bridge at bay outlet

Sean Lahman
@seanlahman
  • Irondequoit Bay Outlet Bridges closes to vehicles April 1 to November 1
  • Town announces grant to fund study for alternative solution
  • Business owners say closed bridge keeps customers away

Fran Beth lives just four-tenths of a mile from her family's business, Marge's Lakeside Inn in Irondequoit.

Irondequoit Town Supervisor David Seeley was appointed to the post earlier this year and has been trying to tend off a challenge from Christopher Burns, former head of the Rochester Young Professionals.

But from April to October, it's a nine-mile drive from the Inn on Culver Road to her home on Lake Avenue in Webster. That's because the bridge across the Irondequoit Bay outlet swings closed each spring to allow boaters to make their way from the bay to Lake Ontario. It remains closed to vehicle traffic until Nov. 1, forcing drivers on either side to make the trek all the way around the southern end of the bay.

"Some days I have to go back and forth three times. That's almost 60 miles," she said. "It's ridiculous."

Opened in 1998, the bridge sought to balance the needs of boaters, residents and businesses in the lakefront neighborhood bisected by the outlet.  In practice, the compromise solution left most of those stakeholders unhappy.

As county workers undertook the biannual task of swinging the bridge back and forth Monday morning, Irondequoit Town Supervisor Dave Seeley announced the town was commissioning a study to identify a permanent, year-round solution.

Randy Lanning turns the light back into place after he and Ernie Fattore and other workers with Monroe County Highway Bridge Department get the Irondequoit Bay Bridge connected to Webster.

"For years there has been a growing call for an alternative to the yearly schedule at the Irondequoit Bay Outlet Bridge," Seeley said, "one that simply doesn't seem to make sense anymore and for many hasn't made sense for quite some time."

While there has been general agreement that the current bridge is less than ideal, there hasn't been a specific alternative put forward.  Political leaders say they can't ask for funding to build a new bridge without having a concrete proposal on the table.

The town of Irondequoit has received a $74,000 grant from the Genesee Transportation Council to help assess a suitable year-round alternative. The goal is to come up with a specific recommendation that is both feasible and affordable.

"Having this unified effort makes it a study we can all rally behind and pursue an alternative," Seeley said.

People on both sides of the Irondequoit Bay Outlet Bridge photograph the bridge as it swings open Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2016.  A man on the Webster side captures a photo as the bridge gets closer to aligning to Lake Road.

The IBOB replaced a two-lane bridge that had carried vehicles over the channel between 1929 and 1985. That bridge was removed as part of an Army Corps of Engineers project that opened the Irondequoit Bay to marine traffic from Lake Ontario and created a state park at the bay outlet. It was intended to spark development in the bay.

While that may have happened, business owners say that closing the route between Irondequoit and Webster has hurt their bottom lines.

"Everyone looks forward to when the bridge opens up," said Rick Buonomo, manager of Shamrock Jack's restaurant. "It affects everyone's business."

Buonomo says that opening the bridge is like flipping a switch on the flow of customers. The switch gets flipped off again each April when the bridge closes.

"That's why you don't see a lot of year-round businesses around here," says Beth, whose family opened Marge's Lakeside Inn in 1960. "It's very tough,  especially when you opened up on a main thoroughfare that's now become a dead-end street."

That's a refrain that been heard for years. So what's different now?

Seeley says it is the first time since the bridge opened that there is an action item that represents momentum and progress toward a solution.

People on the Webster side watch as the bridge swings towards them.

Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Morelle, whose district includes Irondequoit, says beginning this study is critically important.

"Today does represent an important milestone," Morelle said. "In order for us to move forward, and ask state and federal governments to provide funding for a solution, we need to know the scope of what we want to do."

The town of Irondequoit is fielding proposals from firms to conduct  the study and will select a consultant by mid-November.  They hope to have the study completed by Oct. 15, 2017.

"It's my hope next year we'll be … at this same spot with an alternative that we can rally behind," Seeley said, "one that gives us a path forward and gives us a 12-month solution that can unify two communities."

SLAHMAN@Gannett.com

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