The Town of Mamaroneck, which owns the Waverly Avenue Bridge, launched a $4.54 million project to replace it. Now, he project has been abruptly stopped.
The Town says its contractor attempted to install necessary barricades at the bridge, but claims the Village of Mamaroneck removed the barricades, demanding that the Town pay nearly $750,000 to the Village for police overtime for traffic control.
Village Mayor Tom Murphy says traffic control at the bridge is the Town’s responsibility, as the repairs are a Town contract.
“The Town started construction, closed the bridge and provided NO traffic control measures,” says Murphy. “This created a very dangerous traffic problem in our Village. Traffic was backed up onto I-95 causing an extremely dangerous situation that threatened serious accidents on the highway, caused ridiculous gridlock all throughout our Village and into the Town of Mamaroneck.”
But the Town sent a press release, which stated, “We are attempting to resolve the situation, however, the Mamaroneck Village Manager has refused to attend meetings between the Town and Village. There is no one from the Village with authority to make the final decision who is attending the meetings.”
Village Manager Jerry Barberio disputed that, saying that each of the five city and legal representatives at the meetings have Village authority.
Robert Spolzino, the lawyer for the Village, says representatives of the two municipalities met, and the Village argued that traffic control measures, such as signal timing changes, “would adversely impact other intersections in the Village or public safety…. Our team did not flinch from the position that we do not see any solution other than officers.”
The bridge project will address flooding issues, as part of recommendations from the 2017 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Flood Risk Management Final Report. The report calls for replacing the bridge with a longer span and deeper foundations, which will allow the Army Corps of Engineers’ plans to widen the channel.
The Town of Mamaroneck received grants for the project.
The latest project updates are available here.
There are numerous firms that can provide traffic control services which are probably less expensive then off duty Police Officers. What is the cost comparison between the two?
There was only one day when the I95 exit was backed up. we don’t need police oversight.
Can’t we all just get along?
Questions: The Detour would only be for one block, something local residents have asked for repeatedly. So what dangerous conditions would result.
Also, Would the police officers be on duty or off duty and on overtime?
Last, how was $750,000 determined?
The $750,000 is based on overtime. You could ask the Town to explain its calculations.
It was the Village’s # based on the PBA contract for 4 officers for 10 months, & the Village passed a budget resolution 9/12 (since they had ton pay the police expecting to get reimbursed)
You can see details on their agenda in the resolution.