Property owners on Haiti Island in Mentz have waited long enough for a new bridge, and a solution needs to be found sooner rather than later.

About 60 residents of the small Seneca River Island have been walking across the only bridge leading to their homes after the state Department of Transportation closed the bridge to vehicular traffic over safety concerns. Metal sections of an old bridge there collapsed into the river late Friday night, leaving the safety of a newer “temporary” bridge in question.

The problem is that the temporary bridge was put in place more than 16 years ago after a snowplow crashed through its predecessor.

It was decided after the 1990 plow accident that the town of Mentz owned 95 percent of the bridge, with Conquest owning the other 5 percent.

But Mentz and Conquest are not going to be able to fund a new bridge without a great deal of help - and cooperation - from the county, state and federal government.

No single entity is to blame, and we don't want to hear governments outside the town saying that the fix is solely up to the town of Mentz.

Public infrastructure should never be allowed to fall this dangerously into disrepair, and whether the problem affects 60 people or only six, the fact is that the bridge to Haiti Island was established as a public roadway and the people who use it have a right to expect it to be maintained.

This problem can't be ignored.

Mentz Town Supervisor Jack O'Neil said he plans to contact government officials near and far to try to find a way to fund a new $2 million bridge, and those calls must not go unanswered.

People on all levels of government need to cooperate with Mentz and Conquest to get a new bridge built to Haiti Island. The taxpayers living there demand it. And more importantly, they deserve it.