New Bridge Designs To Be Unveiled Saturday
- Producing Organization
- Vermont Public Radio
- Contributing Organization
- Vermont Public Radio (Colchester, Vermont)
- AAPB ID
- cpb-aacip/211-47rn95fn
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- Description
- Description
- Ever since the state announced that the Crown Point Bridge would have to come down, people have wondered what the new bridge will look like. They'll get their first glimpse at potential designs Saturday.
- Segment Description
- AP/Toby Talbot (Host) Ever since the state announced that the Crown Point Bridge would have to come down, people have wondered what the new bridge will look like. They'll get their first glimpse at potential designs Saturday, as VPR's Nina Keck reports. (Keck) Transportation officials from New York and Vermont will unveil five designs during informational meetings Saturday at LaChute Hall in Ticonderoga. John Zicconi of Vermont's Agency of Transportation says they want as much public input as possible. (Zicconi) "This is a very historic area and the bridge that we're unfortunately going to demolish is a historic bridge. And we want to make sure that folks are comfortable with what's going back up in its place." (Keck) Three separate but similar meetings will be held at 9:30, 12:30 and 3:30. The public will be able to view the designs, hear from architects, transportation officials and members of the Public Advisory Council. That's a liaison group that's been involved with the bridge for several years. (Zicconi) "So this is kind of a big walk-through-and-visit-tables-and-stations kind of public meeting." (Keck) Zicconi says members of the public advisory council will use feedback from the meeting to help make a bridge design recommendation to state officials. Zicconi says beginning Saturday morning, pictures of the five designs and public input forms will be available on both New York's and Vermont's transportation department websites. Bradley Touchstone heads a bridge architectural firm in Florida. While he's not involved in the Crown Point project, he says choosing the right design is important, considering the structure will be in place for at least 100 years. (Touchstone) "Think about the emotional attraction we have to bridges. It's tremendous. Most people can identify the physical landscape of an area relative to its bridges. Most people can't tell you, Oh, it's near the XYZ building.' But they will definitely tell you that it's next to the Champlain Bridge or the Sunshine Skyway or it's next to whatever. Those are landmarks that are easily identifiable. So how that thing looks is really, really important." (Keck) Touchstone says whatever design is chosen should take into account the rural landscape and historic nature of the land on either side of the lake. (Touchstone) "You can do that by using forms and colors and textures to begin to soften the visual characteristics of the bridge. Lighting also plays an incredibly important role. And another approach in a very historical area is to do something absolutely modern and contemporary to stand in contrast - to offset the historical nature of the area." (Keck) Touchstone points out that designing and building a signature bridge doesn't mean you have to spend exorbitantly. He says prefabricated technologies can be very economical, yet still look quite elegant. Cris Subrizi heads a bridge design and engineering firm in San Francisco. He recommends choosing a low maintenance design that ages well and incorporates new monitoring technologies. (Subrizi) "In the new construction you can imbed a series of sensors to tell you when things go wrong, by measuring the strains or compression of a particular element. And this can be all hooked up to a computer and it can be monitored on a day-to-day basis." (Keck) He says with that sort of technology state officials can avoid unpleasant surprises like the one they faced this fall. For VPR News, I'm Nina Keck.
- Broadcast Date
- 2009-12-10
- Asset type
- Segment
- Rights
- Copyright Vermont Public Radio
- Media type
- Sound
- Credits
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Producing Organization:
Vermont Public Radio
Reporter: Nina Keck
- AAPB Contributor Holdings
-
Vermont Public Radio - WVPR
Identifier: image_11343 (VPR)
Format: image/jpeg
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Vermont Public Radio - WVPR
Identifier: audio_29825 (VPR)
Format: audio/mpeg
Duration: 00:03:35
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- Citations
- Chicago: “New Bridge Designs To Be Unveiled Saturday,” 2009-12-10, Vermont Public Radio, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed April 30, 2026, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-211-47rn95fn.
- MLA: “New Bridge Designs To Be Unveiled Saturday.” 2009-12-10. Vermont Public Radio, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. April 30, 2026. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-211-47rn95fn>.
- APA: New Bridge Designs To Be Unveiled Saturday. Boston, MA: Vermont Public Radio, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-211-47rn95fn