A $33 million infrastructure project in Boiceville that began in 2021 and includes road, bridge, and trailhead upgrades near the Ashokan Reservoir may not be completed until this fall, about a year after New York City officials first estimated, a local official said.
The revised timeline came from New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection, which is paying for the project, according to Olive Town Supervisor Jim Sofranko. The city is upgrading its Ashokan Reservoir watershed, which provides about 1 billion gallons of drinking water each day to 8.5 million residents of its five boroughs.
The project involves New York City, Ulster County, and the Town of Olive, which includes the hamlet of Boiceville, making delays difficult to avoid, Sofranko said. He didn’t know whether the delay had affected its overall cost.
“When you have a project of that kind of scope, where there are so many hands in it, any little thing can happen and it sets it back,” he said.
Another reason the project fell behind schedule was design issues for a new bridge, which has since been completed, over the Esopus Creek, which feeds the reservoir. The span opened to traffic on July 24, replacing what was known locally as the Five Arches Bridge near the intersection of Route 28 and Route 28A.
The city had to approve the design changes, a process that took “months and months and months,” Sofranko said.
It’s possible the work will be completed earlier than the fall. The city told Ulster County officials it could be done this summer, according to Amberly Campbell, the assistant deputy county executive. The DEP didn’t respond this week to multiple requests seeking an updated timeline.
The project includes work on roads and bridges that New York City maintains in the Ashokan Reservoir watershed, as well as improvements near the western end of the Ashokan Rail Trail. It will also add upgrades along the westernmost portion of Route 28A and an expansion of the Ashokan Rail Trail’s Boiceville Bridge Trailhead. The trail, built on the former Ulster & Delaware Railroad right-of-way, opened in 2019.
At the western terminus of the trail this week, an active construction site remained closed to the public. Nearby, what appeared to be nearly 50 new parking spaces had been built in a landscaped lot, along with a walking and biking path linking the rail trail to Route 28 and Boiceville businesses. Those features weren’t yet open.
Another part of the project, the redesign of the Route 28 and Route 28A intersection to a T-shape from a Y-shape, has been completed and is open.
John W. Barry is a reporter for The Overlook. Reach him at john@theoverlooknews.com.