Residents meet to discuss Bay Outlet Bridge

It's a sign of the changing seasons...the opening of the Irondequoit Bay Outlet Bridge...closing off boat traffic to the bay. The idea of keeping the bridge open year round was revisited at a meeting in Webster Thursday night.

Currently the driver's bridge opens on November first, and it will stay open until April first when boaters take to the waters. At a public hearing in Webster, State Assemblyman David Koon says there is a perfect solution...updating the bridge. The problem...the cost.

"If the people in Webster want it as much as the people in Irondequoit, then we will take a look at that option,” says Koon. “ It will cost somewhere between 70 and 100,000 dollars of taxpayer dollars to do a study on the bridge to find out if it can be converted... and out of that study will come how much it will actually cost to convert the bridge."

Koon says if a motor were installed, the bridge could be lifted and let back down within minutes.