I had just started my evening music shift at a Binghamton radio station Sunday night, April 5, 1987, with a network newscast at the top of the hour. That's when I first learned about the collapse of a bridge a few hours earlier on the New York Thruway, just west of Amsterdam, near Fort Hunter. That was pretty close to the old hometown, I thought at the time.
Nearly 400 feet of the road deck passing over a raging Schoharie Creek fell into the water, with several vehicles and a tractor-trailer plunging about 80 feet.
We certainly haven't had to deal with runoff from snowmelt in 2012, but the water was rough on our region 25 years ago. There was plenty of flood damage to go around, although nothing like the severity of what has been endured in upstate New York in 2006 and 2011. The Thruway bridge collapse in 1987 was the biggest incident in that round of flooding, no thanks to heavy rainfall and heavy snowmelt.
More than 50 rescuers rushed to the scene, but could not reach the vehicles because of the fast, high and muddy waters. Ten bodies were eventually recovered from the water.
"We can't do a thing," Dennis Jablonsky, a volunteer with the Fort Hunter Fire Department told The Associated Press. "There are trees coming down the creek two feet wide and 30-40 feet long, some longer. Refrigerators, a picnic table, benches, all kinds of debris. Whatever the water can grab on its way, it's taken."
By Monday, state Transportation Department workers were spreading out to inspect 300 bridges in a designated flood area, including Otsego, Delaware, Schoharie, Orange, Sullivan, Ulster and nine other counties. Those bridges, according to Transportation Commissioner Franklin White, were considered the weakest among the 4,300 bridges in those counties. Visual checks for erosion were made, and if any was found, more substantial inspections were to be conducted.
The company that designed the bridge over the Thruway in 1952 felt that erosion under the supports of the bridge was a likely cause of the collapse. Lionel Pavlov, head of Pavlov Engineering, said erosion was unusual.
"I have built more than 1,000 bridges and this is the first time such a thing has happened," he said. "A bridge that is in good service for so many years does not simply fall down." Pavlov felt an unusual water flow could have undermined the supports.
The state's probe into the collapse also focused on the Gilboa dam. A surge of water had been rushing through open gates of the dam into the Schoharie Creek at a rate of nearly 65,000 cubic feet per second the night before the collapse. It was suspected that this surge undermined the bridge supports 40 miles downstream.
At first traffic used alternate routes between Thruway exits 27 and 28. By June 29 a temporary detour was constructed, using a bridge on state Route 5S to cross Schoharie Creek, as well as some local farmers' land, to minimize local traffic flow through Amsterdam and Fonda. Farmers affected didn't like the idea at all, as it interfered with their crops, but had to deal with a state court injunction against their protests.
The family farm of Walter Dufel was affected. The Dufels said they'd obey the court order, although farmers, while watching the bulldozers destroy their crops of peas had some creative forms of protest -- such as dumping a load of manure upwind from the workers.
Interstate 88 was also suggested as another temporary detour by the state Transportation Department.
The Daily Star reported April 10 that some businesses had felt the effect of increased traffic.
"The Day and Night Restaurant at the Bainbridge exit ... has had double the business since part of the Thruway was closed."
"Most of the customers who are new say they're here because of the bridge," waitress Kelley Stewart said. "They say they've never been down this way before." The restaurant's sign was visible from the highway.
Other business, while advertised on exit signs but were set back in villages, didn't notice the difference.
"I could see if the bridge was out for a couple of months, you'll see an increase in customers over the long run," said Mary Greene, who then owned the Unadilla Diner. "But I have not seen an increase over the short run."
It was reported a few weeks later that U.S. Route 20 had seen a good increase in traffic.
A new bridge re-opened on the Thruway in May 1988.
This weekend: Oneonta's first automobile show was planned at the Armory.
City Historian Mark Simonson's column appears twice weekly. On Saturdays, his column focuses on the area during the Depression and before. His Monday columns address local history after the Depression. If you have feedback or ideas about the column, write to him at The Daily Star, or email him at simmark@stny.rr.com. His website is www.oneontahistorian.com. His columns can be found at www.thedailystar.com/marksimonson.
Columns
Thruway bridge collapsed 25 years ago into Schoharie Creek
- Big Chuck D'Imperio
-
-
Safety Patrol D.C. visits never get old
I asked Cam Morris, head of Eastern Travel/Oneonta Bus Lines, how many years her company has been handling the Safety Patrol trip to Washington, D.C.
Continued ... - My pal Brucie, savior of Sidney's hospital
- Catching a whiff of 'Vermont Vapor'
- Selections from the virtual mailbag
- Recalling days of 'Doughnut King'
-
Safety Patrol D.C. visits never get old
- Cary Brunswick
-
-
We've become our own worst enemies
The past month has been marked by a seeming unprecedented number of man-made tragedies, as distinct from those caused by violent outbursts of the natural world, such as earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis.
Continued ... - Plenty of blame to go around for Bangladesh horror
- Obama is going against his word on Social Security
- Reflecting on a Florida trip
- Those magnificent spies in their flying machines
-
We've become our own worst enemies
- Chuck Pinkey
- Guest Column
-
-
Records seizure is an insult to free press
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
Continued ... - The evangelical view of same-sex marriage
- Manor's fate will be Otsego board's legacy
- A closer look at our economy - Part II
- Use fracking to fill budget gaps
-
Records seizure is an insult to free press
- Lisa Miller
-
-
A view from above
Fire towers in the Catskill Mountains have always been destination points, built to capture some of the region’s best views. These sentinel stations served an important role for the earliest possible sightings of forest fires in the remote mountain ranges. But the fire towers and those who manned them fulfilled a multitude of other roles as well.
Continued ... - Being a parent is a constant learning process
- Healthy doesn't have to mean expensive
- A family era ends with close of Potter series
- Independent stores make up for loss of Borders
-
- Mark Simonson
-
-
General Clinton Canoe Regatta got a new home in 1972
Ever since 1963, when Charles Hinkley and a group of Tri-Town businessmen came up with the idea for what we know today as the General Clinton Canoe Regatta, people lined the shores of the Susquehanna to watch the canoeists as they made their 70-mile trek from Cooperstown to Bainbridge.
Continued ... - Sunday movies in Oneonta finally shown in 1934
- Politics, fitness and landmarks dominated local news in May 1968
- Local people sought income in many ways in 1933
- Local windstorm in 1983 caused tense moments
-
- Rick Brockway
-
-
Kids have sparkle in their eyes
When I was in my teens, old Bill Naatz told me about a stream north of Lake George where a man had panned out enough gold to make his wife a wedding band. It was all rumors, but to his grandson and myself, it sounded like the makings of a great adventure.
- People make the outdoors even better
- Turkey season has ups and downs
- Spring air isn't always the freshest
- Adriondacks keep growing and growing
-
Kids have sparkle in their eyes
- Sam Pollak
- William Masters
-
-
Schreibman tops Chris Gibson on women's issues
As the time to vote draws near, we need to remember how money can run politics more than we can. Raising funds is a prominent (if not the dominant) task of getting elected. Raising issues is also crucial, but those efforts are subject to distortion and fear-mongering.
- Republicans feelentitled to allthey can garner An entitlement is a legal benefit available from the government to individuals who are within a defined category of recipients, such as needing insurance for unemployment or health services.
-
Romney focuses on self; Obama emphasizes unity
Mitt Romney criticizes President Obama for saying a person's success is rooted in his community, and is not all his alone. Romney belittles this with his belief in individual initiative. He is better at the put-down than the push-up.
-
Romney shows little regard for common man
The Republicans in Congress have voted over and over, 33 times, redundantly and uselessly, to rescind what they call Obamacare.
-
Scouts' gay ban creates problem where none exists
The Boy Scouts of America's "emphatic reaffirmation" of its vow to exclude any and all homosexuals from its hallowed ranks is ill-considered and pathetic, especially in view of its having reviewed the matter for two years.
-
Schreibman tops Chris Gibson on women's issues
