Concerned and interested citizens had their chance to hear about the city of Binghamton's project plan for rehabilitating the South Washington bridge.


City of Binghamton representatives told those who attended that the 1,350,000 dollar plan will include repainting the bridge, repairing damaged railings and sidewalks and fixing the pedestrian and bicycle traffic markings. Some who attended asked questions about the aesthetics, particularly if the New York State Department of Transportation would be rehabbing the decorative lighting that the bridge is known for. Officials say this is not the purpose of this particular project because of funding constraints.


Rich Perkins, Assistant City Engineer for the City of Binghamton, says: "This is really more of a preventative maintenance type thing, that way we get the bridge to last a log longer. We were lucky enough to secure some funding from the federal government and New York State Department of Transportation so they're paying for 80% of this."


Officials say they hope to start working on the bridge this May, and plan to end around September or October of this year.