Sodom Road Bridge To Reopen (Again)

SOUTHEAST, NY — Local drivers who've put up with a lot since the spring can be optimistic that by the end of the week they won't have to detour around Sodom Road anymore.

The new bridge (a Putnam County project completed on schedule) opened briefly in mid-November —

— but closed again shortly thereafter because NYSEG had to replace a gas line, a project it was unable to schedule before December.

That work is scheduled to be completed on Thursday, ending the detour that forced local drivers onto heavily trafficked I-684 and Route 22.

The new bridge will not need regular painting and is less susceptible to rust. In May, Highway Commissioner Fred Pena described it as a simple span, pre-stressed concrete beam bridge with integral abutments on micropiles. The beams do not require periodic painting. Integral abutments eliminate joints, which helps prevent the intrusion of road salts and extends the useful life of the structure, and a pile-supported abutment is resistant to failure caused by scour.

Scour, the process of erosion around a bridge foundation caused by flooding, is the leading cause of bridge failure, according to the United States Geological Service.