Two men in a boat are pictured on Chautauqua Lake in May 1981 as work on the bridge between Bemus Point and Stow continues. P-J file photos

The 4,300-foot-long bridge spanning the narrowest point on Chautauqua Lake opened in October 1982 at a cost of tens of millions of dollars. However, calls for a connection — long thought to be economically vital — first cropped up in the early 1920s, but only seriously took hold toward the end of the ’50s.

Among the first proposals put forth in Chautauqua County called for a $1.25 million structure; to off-set its costs, the county’s Board of Supervisors proposed a 25-cent toll for motorists. That plan was quickly scuttled when word reached the area that New York state was looking to reconstruct Route 17 into a four-lane highway. At the same time, the state was pondering its own bridge plan across Chautauqua Lake.

What followed was more than two decades of false starts, delays and legal battles before what would become the current bridge opened to traffic 40 years ago.

On Tuesday, Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state Department of Transportation made official what has been known locally for nearly a year that a $78 million Chautauqua Lake bridge rehabilitation project is about to get underway.

“To ensure that our communities and our economy in all regions of the state continue to grow and prosper, New York state is making investments to strengthen and harden our infrastructure to meet and exceed the challenges of the 21st Century,” Hochul said in prepared remarks, while state DOT officials made the trek to Bemus Point to “break ground” on the years-long project.

Dozens of fire engines and even more firefighters with hoselines are pictured on a completed Chautauqua Lake bridge in the fall of 1982. The bridge, which was several decades in the making, is about to undergo a major rehabilitation.

The history of the Chautauqua Lake bridge dates back decades, though it seems the ’50s were key to its eventuality.

“The idea of constructing a span across the lake has been the center of controversy for decades,” a story in the Oct. 30, 1982, edition of The Post-Journal reads. “The plan first started to gain serious consideration in the early 1950s when local lawmakers sought to alleviate summertime traffic problems in Bemus Point, and the necessary 20-mile detour around the lake in the winter when the ferry was not operating.”

As reported in exhaustive detail regarding the bridge’s history, funding became available at the end of 1964. The following year, New York awarded contracts for test borings to determine the feasibility of spanning the lake.

It was on Nov. 5, 1965, that the state Department of Public Works first announced the corridor for the Southern Tier Expressway would run north of Jamestown and Falconer to Bemus Point and then cross the lake to Stow.

The original cost was announced as between $6 million and $8 million, though state officials later clarified the price was actually in the neighborhood of $16 million.

A $2.5 billion transportation bond issue was defeated by voters in November 1971, further delaying any construction. Nonetheless, contracts were awarded the following spring for 70 buildings to be torn down and for 20 families to be relocated on both sides of the lake.

SPLITTING THE COMMUNITY

Construction on the bridge didn’t formally begin until summer 1973, though any momentum that had be gained quickly faded. That November, the Committee to Stop the Bridge Across Chautauqua Lake filed suit in U.S. District Court to stop construction, claiming the state Department of Transportation failed to complete environmental impact statements and hold public hearings.

As reported by The Post-Journal, “The bridge had split the community. On one side were local lawmakers who pushed for the construction as an economic boom to the area. On the other side were the plaintiffs in the court action including Jamestown Community College biology professor Royal Steubing, the Chautauqua County Environmental Defense Council, the Jamestown Audubon Society, Trout Unlimited and the Chautauqua Lake Power Boat Club. They wanted to ensure that environmental concerns were not swept under the rug in the rush to build the span.”

While the suit was in the courts, construction of the bridge’s substructure was halted on April 8, 1974, by picket lines manned by striking workers from Local 17 in Buffalo.

Work would not resume for more than four years.

Three days after the contract dispute arose, a recommendation was made to a federal judge that a temporary injunction be granted to officially halt construction. It was based on allegations that the state failed to comply with federal laws in preparing the environmental impact study. An appeals court later affirmed the injunction.

WORK BEGINS

Daylight for the project finally came to in 1976 when a draft environmental impact statement was released. Soon after, lawmakers spoke in support of the project inside a jammed auditorium at Southwestern Central School.

After initial objections, the federal Department of Transportation in February 1978 gave its seal of approval to the impact statement. Three months later, a judge lifted the injunction against the building of the bridge.

Work resumed in July 1978, though not before another problem arose when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Army Corps of Engineers began battling over the realignment of 500 feet of Bemus Creek. That dispute remained unsettled until November.

On April 27, 1979, the first test pilings were replaced for work on the substructure.

From there, work went smoothly. Work called for 40 feet of clearance from the lake surface to the bridge, allowing “tall-masted boats to pass under it,” the newspaper documented.

On May 17, 1982, the state DOT revealed that the $50 million bridge could be carrying traffic by as early as October. That goal was met.

A host of activities, known collectively as Bridgefest, were held to celebrate the bridge’s opening. Events included a ribbon-cutting ceremony, walking tours across the structure and a fireworks display.