ROOSEVELTTOWN — Drivers passing the Seaway International Bridge here are used to seeing construction. It's been more than a year since work began on a 45-acre customs facility set for completion in the fall of 2009.
One of 39 customs improvement projects across the country, there will be two extra commercial and passenger lanes, as well as a new main building and four enclosed inspection bays, at the facility once the work is done. There also will be updated communications and security systems installed.
"We've got the main building up and enclosed," said Tim Tyler, project manager with Northland Associates Inc. "We're pretty much on schedule. A lot of the exterior work should be done by winter."
The foundations for the inspection buildings have been completed, and the steel walls are in place, he added.
If all goes according to plan, the Canadian side of the bridge also will be getting much-needed renovations. The plan is for the North Channel Bridge, which connects the Canadian mainland to Cornwall Island, to be lowered to a minimum of 20 feet above the channel. It will be built directly north of the current bridge and will be straighter with a slight grade. The current bridge is 100 feet high. Traffic patterns and toll booths on the island also will be redone.
The Canadian Federal Bridge Corp. is negotiating the proposed project with the Three Nations Bridge Corridor Committee of the Akwesasne Mohawk Reservation. Cornwall Island is within the reservation, so the Indians and Canadians must agree on the plan before any work can begin.
"It's never easy when you're dealing with the community," said Andre Girard, vice president of communications at the Federal Bridge Corp. "They have their ideas; we have ours. But it is progressing."
The Akwesasne Mohawk Council declined to comment on the project because of the negotiating process.
The north span of the bridge opened in 1962. It was designed to be high enough for ships to pass underneath, in hopes the St. Lawrence Seaway would be created underneath it. Before the bridge could open, however, the seaway was established on the American side of the river.
Maintenance of such a high bridge costs approximately $1.3 million (Canadian) and will only increase with higher volumes of traffic. The bridge is the eighth busiest crossing between Canada and the United States. The Federal Bridge Corp. has determined replacing the current bridge with a lower one will be cheaper.
A proposal is still in negotiations, and only preliminary sketches have been done. No budgetary discussions have happened yet.
"With the change, it would be a very positive impact" on the tribe, Carla Ransom, assistant to the Grand Chief, said. "Structurally, we need to have change."