It was back in June of 2016 when the former Route 219 Bridge was imploded over Cattaraugus Creek.
Sunday, the new $16.9 million bridge was opened to traffic, ahead of schedule.
The South Cascade-Miller Road" bridge connects the Towns of Concord in Erie County and Ashford in Cattaraugus County.
Springville residents like Shannon Rosenswie use the stretch of roadway often. “I do use it if I’m going to travel south or go to my parent's house.”
So she's glad she won't have to use the detour onto the Route 219 Expressway. It bypasses this shopping district in Springville. “For this local community here, I think it's great that they don't have to be detoured and it's a much easier commute,” Rosenswie explained. “It’s just quicker and easier to drive over the new bridge,” added Jeff Holler. “Now that it's open, it's nice again. It's good to see they rebuilt the bridge,” said Springville resident, Jamie Francisco.
But not who frequent the south towns feel that way. James Hufnagel now use the expressway instead of the old 219 bridge to get to work in Salamanca. So, he said rebuilding the old bridge seems like a waste of tax dollars. “It doesn't make any sense to me that they have two bridges within a couple hundred yards of each other. What's the point? It cost many millions of dollars to refurbish that old bridge.”
Residents like Rosenswie said it's money well spent. “I'm glad that it's a much safer bridge for us to travel over now for sure.”
