In an earlier article, I commented on the accelerated action being taken by the state to repair and essentially rebuild the Chautauqua Lake Bridge. Activity has only picked up since then, and now construction is taking place to divert traffic so that two lanes (not four) will move traffic over the bridge.

This past week bulldozers appeared about 2 miles east of the bridge and began building a roadway to connect the westbound expressway over to the eastbound lanes where presumably two-lane traffic will begin.

At first, I was a bit mystified about why the diversion would take place two miles away from the bridge. But, when you think about it, that is really the only place east of the bridge where both sides of the highway are relatively close and also where the elevation between east and westbound traffic is compatible for such a diversion.

On the west side of the lake, the lanes of I-86 going toward Erie from Stow are close and at the same level, so it is relatively easy to divert traffic there. But, as you approach the bridge from the east side, the highway is split more widely and the elevation differences are significant as the road goes over the hill near the scenic overlook/rest stop. The highway lanes are relatively close together east of the Belleview Road overpass…so that is where the westbound traffic will be routed into two-way traffic as it approaches the bridge.

Admittedly, some of this is conjecture on my part. But, since there has been no official statement made by the New York State DOT, one has to try to connect the dots as you see construction commencing.

Another possible reason for moving the cross-over on the east side of the lake to this location is that it will remove all westbound traffic from the existing long, curved bridge which now crosses over the Rt. 430 exit road. That bridge is also in need of repair.

I am not sure, but preliminary work seems to indicate that the first side of the Chautauqua Lake Bridge to be worked on will be the north (up-lake) side. I say this because for the past two weeks substructure work and some repaving patches have been happening on the southside section of the bridge, indicating that this side is likely being prepared to carry traffic during the initial stages of reconstruction.

One area of traffic diversion not clear to me is how, if at all, the intersection of I-86 traffic with the exit/entrances onto Route 430 at Bemus Point can happen. Currently, there is a left turn exit for that intersection as you are traveling east after crossing the bridge. That will be difficult to replicate when the road is reduced to two lanes of traffic.

I suppose that all of these musings about traffic, the reconstruction, and how it will all come together are somewhat esoteric and people will just get used to new ways of crossing the bridge. However, we are going to have to deal with this over the next three years, so need to be aware of new traffic patterns as they emerge.

In the meantime, if you are interested that the State of New York incorporate a walkway/bikeway into this project–you had better make your views known to the Governor and your state representatives. Provision for that is not in the current contract for reconstructing the Chautauqua Lake Bridge.

Rolland Kidder is a Stow resident.