Pedestrian Bridge Destroyed by Sandy Reopens in Time for 9/11 Memorial Service

HAVERSTRAW, NY – The pedestrian bridge at Haverstraw Bay County Park reopened Friday, just in time for the annual Sept. 11 Memorial Ceremony.

Rockland County Executive Ed Day and other officials marked the opening of the bridge, which was destroyed nearly four years ago during Superstorm Sandy.

"Now we have this park back to its original condition," he said. "It was very painful to have the Sept. 11 Memorial separated from the rest of the park because the bridge was closed. We want people to be able to walk over to the memorial to reflect."

The walkway was opened two months ahead of schedule due to the hard work of many county employees, including Allan Beers and Mike Dimola of the Department of Environmental Resources; Bob Gruffi and Christopher Buteux of the Department of Facilities Management, among many others.

They were at the park Friday, along with the County Executive Day, Deputy County Executive Guillermo Rosa and Pablo Ramos of the Office of Fire and Emergency Services to celebrate the opening of the bridge.

It cost nearly $700,000 to rebuild the bridge at the park. Most of the cost was covered by funds from FEMA and the county's insurance policy.

"There was no cost to county taxpayers," Day said.

All cheered when New City resident Richard Cunningham, who said he visits the park daily, became the first person to walk across.

The annual Sept. 11 Memorial Service will be held at 8:30 a.m., Sunday, Sept. 11 at the park. The public is invited.

Photo: 1. Mike Dimola, Ed Day, Bob Gruffi and Allan Beers perform ceremonial ribbon cutting of new pedestrian bridge.
Photo 2. Richard Cunningham of New City becomes first resident to walk across the new bridge

PHOTOS/ contributed