New Ralph Wilson Bridge Crossing Erie Canal - Don't Miss This Historic Moment!
A barge carrying part of the new Ralph Wilson Park bridge passed by Hulberton on the Erie Canal on Monday.
The bridge is coming! The bridge is coming!
The newly forged pedestrian bridge for Ralph Wilson Jr. Park has been slowly but steadily making its way across Upstate New York by way of the historic Erie Canal over the last 10 days, pushed along by tugs on two barges through a series of 36 locks.
After some delays for weather and unique challenges because of its size, it is now between Rochester and Buffalo, and is scheduled to arrive on the Lake Erie shoreline of the park in downtown Buffalo as early as Tuesday.
The unusual trip has generated an explosion of social media attention that is drawing growing interest from curious onlookers at each stop.
A barge carrying a section of the new Ralph Wilson Park bridge passes through the Erie Canal near Hulberton on Monday, July 15, 2024.
And the Ralph Wilson Park Conservancy is milking that attention to coordinate a big ceremonial splash when it arrives, as officials seek to build momentum for the larger $110 million project to transform the former LaSalle Park into a new signature attraction that will link downtown Buffalo, the waterfront and two West Side communities.
"There’s a lot of interest in the Lockport area," said Katie Campos, executive director of the Conservancy.
People take photos as a barge carrying a section of the new Ralph Wilson Park bridge passes through the Erie Canal near Hulberton on Monday, July 15, 2024.
The bridge is a core part of that transformation, as it is intended to provide a safer and more attractive connection between the park and the Fourth Street neighborhood on the other side of the Niagara Thruway.
It will be erected in early October on the northeast side of the park, and will cross the highway and the CSX Corp. railroad tracks to a redesigned Fourth Street park, enabling Lower West Side residents to access both parks.
First, though, it has to get here.
"We’re in constant contact with the captain," Campos said of the Carver Marine Towing crew of the two 200-foot-long barges and a tug. "They’re truly providing estimates one day at a time."
The bridge's pending arrival marks the culmination of a much-longer journey that began with its fabrication in Italy and a voyage across the ocean.
A barge carrying a section of the new Ralph Wilson Park bridge passes through the Erie Canal near the Hulberton Bridge on Monday, July 15, 2024.
Pieces of the new pedestrian bridge for Ralph Wilson Park sit on a dock in Coeymans, N.Y., south of Albany, before they are shipped by barge along the Erie Canal to Buffalo in July 2024.
It was shipped in four pieces by boat from Italy, and arrived in New York City’s harbor on June 22, before starting up the Hudson River. It departed from the Port of Coeymans, just south of Albany, on July 5 and entered the Mohawk River and Erie Canal just north of Albany, on a pair of 200-foot-long vessels and a tug, each staffed with three workers and a captain.
Since then, the barges have meandered through the various rivers and small lakes that constitute the 199-year-old canal, which was originally designed to support commercial shipping between New York City and the Great Lakes, but has long since been bypassed by other transportation – including the St. Lawrence Seaway. It is now largely used for recreational boating today, with some limited commercial traffic.
Campos said the Conservancy is delighted to be delivering the bridge using the canal, given the waterway's historic legacy and upcoming bicentennial.
But, as it turns out, it was also the only practical way to deliver it, she said. Both truck and train options were ruled out because of the size and height of the bridge pieces, which could not have made it underneath many of the highway and rail overpasses.
However, it is also not the most efficient, particularly because of the terrain change. The two barges have had to traverse the winding canal route slowly, pausing at each lock so that the boats could be raised to the next level.
"We are going one lock at a time," the Carver Marine team posted on Instagram.
People stop to watch as a barge carrying a section of the new Ralph Wilson Park bridge passes through the Erie Canal under the Hulberton Bridge on Monday, July 15, 2024.
Now, though, they are further hampered by the narrowness of the canal in the western part of the state, which "has not been used for commercial traffic in quite some time," the Carver team noted.
In all, the trip will have taken the boats – and bridge – through places like Waterford, Niskayuna, Little Falls, Canajoharie, Schuyler, Marcy, Rome, Sylvan Beach, New London, Brewerton, Baldwinsville, Clyde, Lyons, Newark, Palmyra, Macedon, Fairport, Pittsford, Brighton, Spencerport, Brockport, Holley, Albion and Lockport, before arriving in the Black Rock Channel at Tonawanda, and then making their way down the Niagara River to the park.
Upon arrival at the park shoreline, the four pieces of the bridge will be lifted by a giant red boom crane that has been erected on the edge of the park and deposited on land in the proper order.
