In September, Governor Cuomo and other Albany luminaries held a ribbon-cutting for the $24.4 million structure connecting 151st Street to the Hudson River Greenway over the Henry Hudson Parkway. The event was timed to coincide with the retirement of longtime Assembly Ways and Means Chair Herman "Denny" Farrell, for whom the greenway bridge is named. And apparently it was premature.
Last week, state DOT closed off access to the bridge to "complete some finishing work as the project’s contract draws to a close," according to an agency spokesperson. The closure is expected to last "approximately three weeks."
It's strange, to say the least, that three weeks' worth of construction work has been scheduled after the bridge opened. Instead of getting this done before people started using the bridge and incorporating it into their routines, the closure is happening as bicycling starts to peak.
Nothing is ever straightforward in the world of New York City infrastructure construction, and the Denny Farrell Pedestrian Bridge is no exception. Originally set to wrap up in late 2016, the project was delayed a year because the bridge abutments failed a quality-control inspection and contractors had to start over.
The current closure isn't the first time the bridge has been shuttered since its opening, either. On October 3, the bridge was closed off for most of the day, also for finishing work.
