Thruway bridge collapsed 25 years ago into Schoharie Creek

Mark Simonson

Discussion

COMMENTING ON STORIES:

Welcome to our story comments feature. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including the unpopular ones. We only ask that you keep your conversations clean, civil and on the topic of the story you are commenting on.

Coinciding with our websites redesign, we launched our new story comments feature through Disqus.

Disqus gives users the ability to log into our story comments feature so that they may be able to track their conversations, receive emails when their comments get a reply or to even have your comments update onto your Facebook or Twitter accounts.

For the time being, our story comments feature will continue to have the ability to post comments anonymously. We reserve the right to require registration in the future using your name and verified email address.

Not all comments are deemed printable. Some are disqualified at the newspaper’s discretion for a number of different reasons. Please follow our Online Rules of Conduct at all times.

RULES OF CONDUCT:

We reserve the right to remove comments that are unacceptable, to wit:

1. False and inacurate statements.
2. Personal attacks. Explicit name-calling.
3. Harassing, harmful, vulgar, obscene and defamatory language.
4. Threatening statements or statements that suggest violence.
5. Hate speech of any kind.
6. Intolerant comments on religion, race, age, gender, sexual preference or disabilities.
7. Accusations of criminal activity.
8. Content that is harmful to children and minors in any way.
9. References to any type of sexual activity and other private matters.
10. Random and inflammatory statements that are off topic.
11. Advertising of any kind.
12. Typing in all caps.

WE ENCOURAGE REASONABLE AND COURTEOUS COMMENTS THAT:

1. Create conversation on issues of interest and concern to fellow readers and local community members.
2. Express opinions and contrarian views.
3. Stimulate debate with respectful language.
4. Stay within the boundaries of these rules.

WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO SUSPEND OR TERMINATE ACCESS FOR:

1. Violating any of these Online Rules of Conduct.
2. Deliberately disrupting discussions with repetitive messages, meaningless messages or spam.
3. Misrepresentation of identity or impersonating another user.

WE WELCOME:

1. Flagging violations of these rules that you observe to our attention.

MONITORING:

We monitor comments regularly Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Approval of comments outside of this time (including weekends) will be sporadic.

comments powered by Disqus

April 2, 2012

Thruway bridge collapsed 25 years ago into Schoharie Creek

Anonymous Daily Star The Daily Star Mon Apr 02, 2012, 03:24 AM EDT

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.