(Host) Governor Jim Douglas says it’s critical to launch a new ferry near the closed Crown Point Bridge as soon as possible.
But Douglas says it’s not clear if it will take weeks or months to build new docks for the ferry on either side of Lake Champlain.
VPR’s Bob Kinzel reports.
(Kinzel) The decision this week by Vermont and New York state transportation officials to demolish the Crown Point Bridge has increased pressure to find alternative ways for motorists to travel across this part of the lake.
That’s because roughly 3,500 vehicles traveled across the bridge every day before officials determined several weeks ago that it was structurally unsafe.
While commercial ferry operators have increased their services, Douglas says his top priority is to develop a new ferry that will operate just south of the bridge.
(Douglas) "The immediate future, I think, calls for ferry service as close as possible to Chimney Point and Crown Point so that the traffic patterns are as consistent with what they were before. That needs to be frequent. It needs to be adequate to carry large vehicles. It needs to be year-round. And it needs to be free."
(Kinzel) Some officials believe it might make sense to build a temporary bridge next summer that could transport vehicles until a new permanent bridge is constructed.
However, Douglas thinks there could be a number of problems with the temporary bridge approach.
(Douglas) "There are some downsides to a temporary bridge. If it were at the surface level, it would impair the ability for recreational traffic to go up and down the lake during the coming year or so. The ferry service might suffice…. So let’s see what happens with that first and then we can make further decisions."
(Kinzel) Douglas expects that the federal government will pay 80 percent of the costs of a new permanent bridge. That leaves both Vermont and New York State each picking up 10 percent of the cost. The governor says Vermont may have to seek an emergency federal appropriation for its share of the project.
(Douglas) "We have so many demands on our transportation dollars, it’s possible we will consider a request directly to the Congress. But that’s another of the issues that we haven’t fully vetted."
(Kinzel) Douglas says he hopes to be able to establish a timeline for the construction of the new ferry service by the end of this week.
For VPR News, I’m Bob Kinzel in Montpelier.