BINGHAMTON – New York Transportation Commissioner Joan McDonald earlier this week said the New York-Pennsylvania Joint Interstate Bridge Commission should explore historic preservation funds to upgrade the Pond Eddy Bridge and the other nine the commission manages.

Despite that, the commission has approved the $49.3 million for capital projects.

The Upper Delaware Council is an interested party that supports construction of a new Pond Eddy Bridge for safety sake; it’s executive director, Laurie Ramie, was surprised, though, at the commission’s action on Wednesday to approve the capital projects.

“We anticipated that the New York State Department of Transportation commissioner’s message to basically put a hold on the study of all of these bridges would cause the Joint Interstate Bridge Commission to defer any action, but instead, they did go ahead and approve the contracts, which partially is in consideration for some emergency repairs that are necessary and just a desire not to delay the forward momentum on any bridge that’s due for a major rehabilitation in the coming years,” Ramie said.

She said the UDC has not taken a position on New York State’s allocation of almost $5 million toward the construction of a new Pond Eddy Bridge. Their focus has been on the safety of the structure and the inability for heavy emergency vehicles to cross the current bridge because of its seven ton weight limit.