Is Pedestrian Bridge in VCP in Trouble?

  The above rendering of the Pedestrian Bridge in VCP over the Major Deegan Highway was the focal point of last night's Croton Filtration Monitoring Committee meeting. The above rendering shows how the pedestrian bridge would look. The bridge is further north on the highway than expected due to the fact that the original site of Mosholu Parkway is above the Croton Aqueduct. There is a fear that construction directly above the aqueduct could damage it.  

  

 There would have to be a total of eighty-two trees removed to create the pedestrian bridge which  worried Community Board chairs Bill Hall and Rosemary Ginty. The exact details were explained by Bharat Parent of the DDC, including the schedule of designing the bridge and bidding process which could take years to complete. The projected start date was sometime in 2020.

  

  Another problem that may kill the pedestrian bridge is the fact that the original cost of $12 million dollars has ballooned to $22 Million dollars give or take a million dollars depending on the design of the bridge. It was then that a spokesperson for Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz said tat the elected officials are not happy with the higher cost which may go even higher. He also said that the elected officials who put together the state portion of the money needed to build the pedestrian bridge were even thinking of withdrawing the state monies from the process. The state was kicking in about one-third of the original $12 million dollars. This was a surprise to all in attendance, and even the DDC representative who said that the DDC would try to work this out.