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State Department of Transportation (DOT) officials were at the Lansing Town Hall Wednesday to explain to local residents why Route 34 in front of the State juvenal residential center will be closed for just over two months next summer.  A box culvert adjacent to the Lansing Residential Center has deteriorated to the point where state engineers have elevated it to the highest priority on the list of bridges to be repaired in next year's building season.  DOT engineer Nicholas J. DeCirce says that salt damage, normal wear and tear, and just plain old age have contributed to deterioration of concrete and steel in the structure.

"You can put your hand in and pull off chunks," he says.  "I hammered the bottom of the pipes that are used for forms.  I hammered the bottom of them and they were hollow-sounding.  It's overall general deterioration.  On one section you can look up and actually see the asphalt, which is why we have a steel plate over it and have it closed off."


The culvert was inspected last year and scheduled to be replaced in the 2012 building season.  But a subsequent inspection alarmed engineers enough that they decided the replacement couldn't wait more than one more winter.  The earliest the project will begin is June 1, 2011, though DeCirce says that could be pushed later if state funds are not available.  But he says that the culvert is high enough on the priority list that it will definitely be replaced some time next summer.

The culvert's location on Route 34 (Auburn Road) will be entirely closed for the duration of the project.  A signed detour will route traffic along Route 90 through Genoa to King Ferry, then south on 34B where Route 34 can be picked up again at the northernmost tip of East Shore Drive (Route 34 at the corner where the Rogues Harbor Inn is located).  'R" Permitted trucks will be routed along Route 20 in the north, to Route 81, and then along Route 13 to get to and from Ithaca from the north.

"Of course local traffic can use numerous detours to get around the culvert," DeCirce notes.  "It doesn't pose a problem for either emergency services or any kind of deliveries, or anything like that."

DOT officials say that the road cannot be closed one lane at a time, as is being done on a bridge just a few miles north on Route 34.  In that case half the bridge was replaced last year, and the other half is currently under construction, with portable traffic lights that manage one lane traffic on the other side.  But some bridges and culverts can not be repaired in halves either because of the type of original construction, or because of the level of deterioration.

Salt and old age have eaten away concrete and supporting steel beams."I've been underneath this one to examine the existing bridge," DeCirce says.  "I've been a structural engineer for over 30 years and I would not feel safe cutting it in half.  With so many available detours it doesn't make sense to risk something like that."

The road closing will be annoying to local residents who will have to find their way around the blocked road on Colon or Van Ostrand Roads, which run parallel to 34, and will likely see an increase in traffic as local residents and others look for ways to get past the detour.  But truckers are most concerned about changes to the route that will cost their businesses money and time.  Lansing Highway Superintendent says the biggest impact will be to salt truckers such as North Lansing's G&L Trucking, that will be forced to find less favorable routes.

DeCirce says preliminary estimates for the new culvert predict the project will cost between about $700,000 and $800,000.  The final cost can't be determined until the final design has been set.  The new culvert will be prefabricated and trucked to the site, then dropped in place once the old one has been removed.  After that the road will be replaced on top of it.  The new culvert is expected to last around 40 or 50 years.

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