Falling Down

First, it was the Cranberry Hole Road Bridge in Amagansett, which was closed to all traffic in May 2023, then again a few weeks later, after the road over the Long Island Rail Road tracks was deemed unsafe. The bridge, built in 1895 and renovated as recently as 2007, remains closed and likely will have to be replaced.

Now, it’s the Ponquogue Bridge, a much larger 38-year-old span that was closed on February 21 after concerns about “deterioration” of the concrete girders supporting its road deck. It’s back open again, but with weight limits that will keep some important commercial traffic off the bridge indefinitely. Will it be safe for the kind of heavy summer traffic that’s coming soon, with beach season just weeks away?

And these are not isolated concerns — numerous other bridges dot the South Fork, and many are already drawing attention. There’s the nondescript bridge on Montauk Highway just east of the Hampton Bays business district, which is scheduled for full replacement in a few years. Meanwhile, in Quogue, residents would be reasonable to worry about the impact of so much more heavy traffic — and heavy vehicles — using that route to access Dune Road this summer if the Ponquogue Bridge remains on limited duty.

It’s just a reminder, at a time when federal spending is being slashed with abandon, that there is a long list of expenses that are not negotiable — but can be very easy to push off. Regular maintenance of infrastructure is atop that list. While the cuts in Washington, D.C., might not directly affect our local bridges, which are in various states of disrepair, the ripple effect can create economic pressures on the state and county, and that can lead to a lack of attention to such matters as bridge maintenance, which might seem less than urgent — until, suddenly, it is.

Suffolk County owns the Ponquogue Bridge, but it was the State Department of Transportation that shut it down. Neither has been particularly transparent about the situation at the bridge — which increases the level of concern, since we have no way of knowing whether the recent inspection found truly alarming defects or simply areas that need some attention as soon as possible.

The state and county should assuage everyone’s concerns with a status update on all the bridges in Southampton and East Hampton towns — and a workable schedule of both repair and replacement that can put everyone’s mind at ease that these bridges are still sturdy and safe.