Officials to cut ribbon today on new Lake Champlain Bridge

PHOTOGRAPHER: The Associated Press

A Vermont restaurant owner says she’s hoping the opening of the new Champlain Bridge between Addison, Vt. and Crown Point will help revive her business, which has been off about 30 percent since the old bridge across Lake Champlain closed two years ago.

Lisa Cloutier almost closed her business on the Vermont side, which she jokingly renamed “The No Bridge Restaurant,” after the old bridge was determined to be unsafe and closed in October 2009.

“Monday, when I do see cars coming across that bridge I will climb up on the roof and take that down,” Cloutier said, referring to the tape she used to make the “No” on her sign.

State officials from New York and Vermont are due to cut the ribbon on the new bridge at 2:30 p.m. today.

New York Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy is scheduled to join Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin for the event on the $70 million bridge.

The original span was closed in October 2009 after inspectors deemed it unsafe. The 80-year-old bridge was destroyed by a controlled explosion in late December 2009. Construction on the new bridge began the following spring.

New York state transportation officials originally set the opening of the new bridge for this past October, but flooding in the spring caused a delay.

The closing of the bridge forced commuters to take long detours or use a 24-hour, free ferry that took passengers across the narrow gap in the interim.

Cloutier said the ferry helped her revive her business, most of which came from New York, but it still wasn’t as good as when the bridge was open.

“I have depleted everything that I have to keep this place going,” she said. “I am ecstatic. I can’t wait.”