MORAVIA - The Smith Street bridge in Moravia will be humming with traffic once again after being closed for almost two decades.

Engineers Barton & Loguidice have submitted preliminary plans to repair the structure, which the town board received Wednesday night. The bridge, which spans Mill Creek, has been closed since 1989 for safety reasons.

Smith Street is divided into two dead ends on either side of the creek.

Construction on the project cannot begin before June 1 because Mill Creek is a trout stream protected from May to June by Department of Environmental Conservation regulations.

Once the plans are approved, the construction can go out to bid. Board members were anxious to begin the bidding process.

Town supervisor Gary Hatfield said the cost of the project would be about $300,000. The town has been putting aside between $10,000 and $20,000 a year to finance the project.

In 2004, the town had saved $140,000 to fix the bridge. Back then it received repair estimates of $130,000 to $400,000.

“We have about $200,000 now,” Hatfield said.

State Sen. Michael Nozzolio has secured about $60,000 in grant money, but the town will only get that money after the bridge is built as reimbursement for some of the cost.

Wendell Buckman, of Barton & Loguidice, asked board members to review building specifications as well as the bridge design.

“Once construction begins,” he said, “it could take between 2.5 to three months to complete, depending on how aggressive your contractor is and the water levels.”

He said the replacement structure would be a three-sided concrete diecast unit that would be set on footings and paved on top.

“The big issues,” Buckman said, “are the four corners of the bridge.”

He asked the board to make sure that property owners in those four sections were informed that construction would take place and that they would understand how it would affect them.

For example, property on the southeast corner of the bridge will have a driveway blocked during some of the planned construction. A maple tree also has to come down on the northwest corner.

Buckman also said that a gas utility line on Smith Street now doesn't cross the creek. The gas company wants to connect the line on the face (side) of the bridge. Electric utility lines will also have to be moved during the construction process.

The engineer told the board that bidding can begin whenever the board is comfortable with the specifications.

Hatfield said that once the plans were reviewed, permits could progress quickly.

“Nothing has ever progressed quickly in this town,” he said.

Staff writer Kathleen Barran can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 238 or kathleen.barran@lee.net