Bridge repairs deeply strain businesses

Emergency access to hospital dictates west is best

By TOM KANE

MATAMORAS, PA & PORT JERVIS, NY — Business people in Matamoras, PA and Port Jervis, NY are at their wits’ end. The bridge over the Delaware River that links the two towns has been all but closed for two months with traffic allowed only one way—west—from New York into Pennsylvania.

The bridge needs repairs, everyone concedes. But why is the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) limiting the traffic to west only?

“We are told by PennDOT that they will have two-way traffic by July 4, a month from now,” said Danielle Jordan, Pike County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director. “That’s not good enough. We are asking for a date sooner than that. But the main question is why can’t they have a traffic light that would allow traffic from both directions to alternate in the single lane that is open, like happens elsewhere?”

Jordan surveyed Pennsylvania business people and found how distressed they are. She focused on the Pennsylvania side of the river because it is the chamber’s service area.

“We asked 38 businesses in Pennsylvania, ‘Has your business been affected by the bridge construction?’” she said. “Thirty-six out of 38 answered in the positive. Seven out of the 36 said their situation is extreme. One or two said they were going to close.”

This couldn’t be happening at a worse time. “As everyone knows, there’s a serious business recession right now; prices for needed items have been rising and it’s happening at the height of their season when they make the most money for the year,” said Jordan. “What a nightmare.”

Some businesses have cut down on hours they are open and a few have cut employees.

A quick trip to Port Jervis revealed business people saying the same things.

“Why can’t they use a traffic light and let both directions flow?” said Janie Dios, owner of Cosa Belle Jewelers. “We circulated a petition with hundreds of signatures and we went up to the mayor’s office, but he couldn’t do anything either. It’s disgraceful, letting businesses go out of business.”

Dios named several other businesses in the area that were hurting as much as hers. “Some people aren’t going to make it,” she said.

A PennDOT representative explained the agency’s decision.

“We had to give up the idea of allowing the traffic to flow both ways,” said Richard Cochrane, assistant district executive for construction at PennDOT. “Because the bridge is as long as it is, using that method would cause extreme back up situations in both communities. There would have to be a long stretch of time in between the lights changing in order to clear the bridge. That simply wouldn’t work here.”

But why allow traffic only to go west?

“That was the best solution put forward by the emergency people,” Cochrane said. “The necessary condition is the need to get to the hospital in Port Jervis from Pennsylvania. If the emergency was in Port Jervis, you are already near the hospital. But if in Pennsylvania, the ambulance would have to get into PA fast. That’s why the lane going west is the one opened. By the time the ambulance had to return to the hospital, the police would be there to stop traffic.”

Will a two-way lane be available by July 4?

“We can’t promise anything, because every time we examine the bridge we see something else wrong,” he said. “We’re going to try our best.”