Bridge project moves east

PHOTOGRAPHER: Peter R. Barber

Antoinette Capparello stands in front of her cafe at routes 5 and 30A in Fonda Thursday.

Despite already starting design work to build a replacement span on the west side of the existing Route 30A bridge, the state Department of Transportation will instead build it on the eastern side.

Though businesses to the west including a gas station and the Dairy Deli ice cream shop will likely still be affected by the construction, the biggest impact will be the likely loss of Antoinette’s Cafe at the eastern corner of routes 5 and 30A.

“Either way, the bridge has to be done,” said cafe owner Antoinette Capparello, who has been operating the eatery for 13 years.

Also likely to be affected is Mike’s Pizza and a vacant building just east of Capparello’s that is owned by Capparello’s father, Mike Geloso. He’s been operating the pizzeria there for 30 years, his daughter said.

Residents and officials were dismayed when they learned in April that DOT officials were planning to buy land and build to the west of the existing bridge over the railroad tracks, a deteriorating span built in 1949.

DOT Region II design engineer Stephen Zywiak on Thursday said the change in plans will delay construction, initially slated for 2010, for about a year.

Preliminary estimates put the cost of the project at about $4.5 million.

The DOT has to perform inspections on the bridge more often than normal becasue of its condition.

Zywiak said the new three-lane bridge will provide a left turning lane for motorists to travel west on Route 5.

The additional turning lane is expected to relieve some of the congestion that frustrates motorists driving through the village during high traffic periods.

DOT officials have said the bridge carries about 11,300 vehicles daily, with 13 percent of that being large truck traffic. Typical roadways experience roughly 8 percent truck traffic, officials have said.

Capparello said she’s unsure what the chances are for rebuilding her business. She said she was told by the DOT that tentative plans are to purchase her property and tear down the building.

Capparello said she was told that once construction is finished, she may have the option of buying back 90 percent of the land, which is not expected to be needed for the bridge.

“I’m not angry with it because the bridge needs to be done. It’s the safety of the people that’s important,” Capparello said.

Zywiak said a public meeting is to be scheduled in the near future and more details about plans and their impacts should be available then.