Walden residents have been waiting patiently for the Hill Street Bridge to reopen for the past six years, and the Town of Montgomery is now taking steps to rectify the situation. During the Walden Village Board meeting on Oct. 2, Walden Village Manager John Revella said that the town has hired an engineer to craft a plan to fix the bridge, which was damaged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

Montgomery has pledged to return the bridge back to working order. “We were told that they are committed to repairing it or replacing it, if necessary,” Revella said. “They have an engineer checking it to see what the best route is. They did receive a panel from the (old) Tappan Zee Bridge in order to facilitate that. So hopefully it’s less costly to everyone.”

Traffic is still flowing across the first bridge in the area, as it has not been flagged for repairs. In August, the village sent Montgomery a letter pushing for action on the bridge repairs after years of inactivity on the issue, and the project seems to be gaining momentum. “I know that they have solicited bids from engineers and were in the selection process,” Revella said of Montgomery’s progress. “I’m not sure, but I believe they’ve selected somebody, so from there they should just have the plan together and be able to implement the plan.”

A proposed 20,000 square foot retail development near the Stewart’s convenience store could benefit from the traffic that would stream from the repaired bridge onto Rt. 52. The village had previously been informed by the town that the out-of-commission span was not a hardship for local residents. “The contention was that it was the bridge to nowhere and we didn’t need it in the village, that it wasn’t a hardship,” Walden Mayor Susan Rumbold noted during last Tuesday’s board meeting. “But that business originally listed the flow of traffic from that bridge from bottlenecking Rt. 52 in that area.” There is currently no time frame to fix or replace the Hill Street Bridge, but Walden is anticipating that the project will move forward. “Hopefully that work will be done soon. It’s been a nag on all of us,” Revella told the board.