Latest news with #OgdensburgBridgeandPortAuthority
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Parking is now free at Ogdensburg airport, and passengers are up
Apr. 5—OGDENSBURG — The Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority is waiving parking fees at Ogdensburg International Airport. Meanwhile, enplanements in March reached a level not seen in years, according to the airport manager. The OBPA Board of Directors voted unanimously to offer free parking during their March 13 meeting. OBPA Chief Financial Officer cited several reasons for waiving the fees, which including anticipated construction disruptions caused by the terminal overhaul project. CFO Patricia Nisco said parking will be free "for the foreseeable future" and the board can reinstate fees at any time. The terminal project, which was awarded $18 million from Gov. Kathy C. Hochul's $230 million Upstate Airport Economic Development and Revitalization Competition, will expand the check-in, ticketing and baggage drop-off areas, construct a new canopy over the curbside drop-off/pickup area, install new passenger information display systems, among other improvements. A new, multi-purpose great room will be created to provide community space for civic gatherings, conferences, business meetings and other public events. OBPA Board Chair Vernon J. "Sam" Burns said he hopes the free parking will be an enticement for Canadian travelers. "Considering everything that's happening between our country and Canada, I think this also pertains to helping our Canadian travelers that thankfully come to our airport and use our airline out of here," Burns said. "We are taking into consideration some of the issues that seem to be between our country and theirs. We love having them coming here. We hope they continue" "Hopefully a lot of North Country residents and other Americans will decide to go to Canada and continue the friendship our countries have had for over 200 years." Airport Manager Charlie Garrelts said Wednesday that enplanements at the airport for February totaled "800 to 900." That's up from 470 enplaned passengers in January. "We saw more enplanements because of Florida flights. That's climbing. We're seeing good feedback from the Florida flight as well," he said. "We haven't seen that number for years." Breeze Airways took over as Ogdensburg's Essential Air Service carrier last year. Essential Air Service is a U.S. Department of Transportation program that subsidizes flights between smaller rural airports and larger air hubs. Breeze also offers connecting flights from Dulles to Provo, Utah. On Nov. 8, Breeze started offering connecting flights from Dulles to South Bend, Indiana, and on Nov. 21, the carrier began a third connecting flight from Dulles to Vero Beach, Florida. They also offer flights to and from Orlando, Fla. through April 27. All of the flights are on 137-passenger Airbus A220-300 jets.
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Ogdensburg International Bridge maintenance project to span two years, cost $16.4 million
Mar. 16—OGDENSBURG — The Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority is preparing for a two-year $16,408,000 maintenance project for the Ogdensburg-Prescott International Bridge. They're planning to do paving this year and painting maintenance during the 2026 construction season. The paving rehab work is expected to take place from September to November. It will repave 3,900 feet of roadway on the U.S. approach, from the Proctor Avenue intersection to the U.S. abutment, including the U.S. Customs inbound and outgoing lanes. There will be no full roadway closures. "We'll be hitting everything except the concrete slabs at Customs and the toll plazas," according to Daniel Thomas. He is the project manager a senior bridge engineer from Greenman-Pedersen Inc. He narrated a Feb. 26 public hearing that discussed the project which was recorded and can be watched on the OBPA's YouTube page. "Because we're not dong anything that's touching the deck, we won't need to do any full road closures," Thomas said. The speed limit will also change from the U.S. abutment to Proctor Avenue from 35 mph to 25 mph "mostly in the interest of safety to the traveling public," according to Thomas. "Once you pass the Customs building, you're in a protected zone from the U.S. Customs to the Canadian customs building," he said. "It only adds a half a minute of travel time to go the 3/4 of a mile at 25 rather than the 35 that's there today." The timetable Thomas presented calls for design approval for the paving portion done later this month with construction approval in July and advertising and seeking bids in August. The painting portion is estimated to go from April to September next year. The goal is to repaint steel trusses and cross framing starting at span 9. They have funding to spans 9 to 11 and are looking for additional funding to do spans 12 to 14 so it can all be done under the same contractor, Thomas said. He noted in two prior maintenance projects, which went from 2010 to 2011 and 2020 to 2021, "we never had situations with huge traffic tie ups ... we're going to use the same approach here." The plan is to install temporary walkways below the bridge and to contain it all in a pressurized translucent sheathing to prevent debris from getting up on the roadway and down into the St. Lawrence River. He said they'll determine if any of the steel needs to be repaired and if so, have it fabricated and installed. The finished coat will be a sage green that matches the rest of the bridge. Thomas noted some of the current paint is 60 years old from when the bridge was built between 1957 to 1960. "After 60 years that paint has long outlived its expected life cycle," he said, which is usually 20 to 30 years at most for structural steel paint. The work builds upon the two previous maintenance projects, according to Thomas. The 2010-11 project improved suspension spans with new galvanized deck and steel stringers, upgraded railing and electrical across entire bridge, and lowered the speed limit from 35 mph to 25 mph. In 2020-21, the plate girder and floor beams were repaired for spans 1 to 8. It also repainted plate girders and cross framing, and for spans 9 to 14 added a new galvanized deck and steel floor beams installed to the existing floor truss, according to Thomas.
