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Residents tell Ulster County to recheck Basin Road bridge width, question DEP influence
Summary
Multiple public commenters pushed the legislature for transparency on decisions affecting the Basin Road bridge and rail-trail access, saying measurements show the bridge is wider than previously reported and asking whether NYC DEP policy is constraining local tourism and trail plans.
During the public-comment period the legislature heard sustained concern about the Basin Road bridge and related trail planning.
Larry Roth said he attended the Dec. 4 Housing and Transportation Committee meeting and asked the county to explain how the committee determined the bridge was outside the study area. Roth said it was "useful, though, in the interest of transparency" to know how that ruling was made and who was involved. He asked whether the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) was effectively asserting a veto over Ulster County tourism decisions and whether the county was deferring to DEP preferences about allowing rail use on bridges near the Ashokan Reservoir. Roth also told the legislature that prior inspections "had found no serious structure to the bridge" and questioned statements that the bridge failed to meet width requirements.
Matthew Lundy said the basin-bridge information presented to the transportation committee was false based on his own measurements. Lundy reported brace-to-brace measurements of "11 feet," inner-to-inner about "14 feet," and outer-to-outer about "16 feet," and he urged the legislature to invite all parties to the negotiating table on the 1.8-mile section before deciding on Resolution 4 51. "So unless my tape measure is wrong... the information that was presented was false," Lundy said.
Harrison Baldov said he rechecked the bridge with multiple measuring tools and compared it to other local rail-trail structures, finding roughly one-third of those bridges narrower than 10 feet. He questioned why Basin Road would be held to a higher standard than other bridges on the region's rail trails and said he would post photos and measurements publicly.
No formal action on the Basin Road bridge was recorded in this meeting. The comments were presented as input for ongoing committee deliberations; Resolution 4 51 was noted by a speaker as not up for vote this evening. The meeting record contains claims about prior committee statements, DEP policy, and bridge measurements; those claims were made by members of the public and were not verified during the session.
