Replacement plans revealed for Farley Bridge in Stony Point

By AKIKO MATSUDA
THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: August 19, 2006)

STONY POINT — State officials say it's time to replace the James A. Farley Memorial Bridge.

Multiple plans for the Route 9W bridge over Cedar Pond Brook are being considered, and one of them could mean the end of the Malloy's Pharmacy building.

David Bennett, project engineer of the state Department of Transportation, said last week that his agency and the town have agreed that traffic will not be detoured off Route 9W during the replacement, which would start in the spring of 2009.

"Route 9W carries a lot of traffic, maybe 20,000 cars a day, including quite a few large trucks," Bennett said.

Before the bridge was built, Route 9W crossed the brook farther downstream, using the narrow and winding Lowland Hill Road. When the existing span was built in 1922, it was dedicated to Supervisor James A. Farley, who served from 1920 to 1923. On May 30, 1988, a century after his birth, it was rededicated the James A. Farley Memorial Bridge.

Supervisor Phil Marino said the new span will have the same name.

Bennett said four plans are under consideration

• Maintain traffic on the current bridge and build a new span to the east.

• Maintain traffic on the current bridge and build a new span to the west.

• Maintain traffic on the current bridge and build half the new span to the east. Then move the traffic onto the new bridge, while removing the old bridge and building the other half of the new bridge. This process is known as "stage construction."

• Build a temporary bridge on either the east or west side of the existing bridge. Then move traffic over to the temporary bridge while replacing the existing bridge at the same location.

Bennett said the proposed new bridge would have three lanes, widened from the current two-lane bridge, to better accommodate heavy traffic.

To realign the road, some of the proposed plans might require eliminating existing structures, such as the approximately 150-year-old Malloy's Pharmacy building at the corner of Route 9W and Main Street.

Town historian Stuart Gates said many people, especially long-time residents, would be sad to see the building go.

"It's an established landmark," Gates said. "For years, Malloy's building was the crossroads, the heart of the community. Our community developed around that intersection. It's only in the recent generation that the community has moved south on Route 9W with the strip malls. The original part of Stony Point was there at that intersection."

The intersection was known as Knight's Corner and served as a center of activity in the town, according to a 1976 publication titled "Stony Point in Words & Pictures," by Maryellen Gon-yea, Myra Scovel and Robert P. Burghardt.

The Malloy's building is owned by Richard Riccordino, who received a Historical Society of Rockland County Executive Preservation Award for his restoration work in 1999.

Bennett said the DOT is conducting environmental and archeological studies for all the proposed plans to present at a public hearing in October or November.

"We have not made a final determination of what we will do," Bennett said. "That's why we're presenting all the alternatives at the public hearing and get public comments at that time."