Ye ole Champlain bridge continues to make the news. Glad it was rebuilt so quickly.
Take that, bureaucracy! Public pressure ensured that the Lake Champlain Bridge connecting New York and Vermont reopened after two years, not eight.
“When you see everything you’ve worked for jeopardized, you can get mad,” said Lorraine Franklin, 54, one of several business owners credited with starting a grassroots movement that pressured state agencies to rebuild the bridge far sooner than anticipated.
Although initial estimates projected eight years for the replacement’s completion, the new Lake Champlain Bridge had the first cars roll over it earlier this month, just more than two years after deep cracks were found in the original bridge, forcing its immediate closure and demolition.
“We had nothing to lose. By losing the bridge, we were going to lose everything anyway,” said Franklin, owner of the West Addison, Vt., General Store and other businesses near the bridge, and co-chairwoman of the Lake Champlain Bridge Coalition.
