Northern Westchester

Workers returned Monday to the Route 120 bridge in central Chappaqua and, with the cooperation of the weather, the reconstruction of the bridge could still be complete by the end of the year, said New Castle Supervisor Barbara Gerrard.

Gerrard credited her efforts to pressure the governor along with those of state Sen. Suzi Oppenheimer and Assemblyman Robert Castelli. Gerrard persuaded the governor’s office to authorize the state Comptroller to release money owned to the bridge contractor, the Conti Group, from last fiscal year.

“My letter to the governor got results,” Gerrard said.

It took a couple weeks for the check to reach Conti and for Conti to agree to go back to work. Gerrard said work was expected to restart between June 21 and 28.

“Everything worked and they were back on the job Monday,” Gerrard said.

Conti pulled its workers off the job on April 1 when the state failed to pass a budget on time. Company officials complained they were already owed hundreds of thousands of dollars and couldn’t float the project. But with the transportation budget now in place for the 2010-2011 fiscal year, there aren’t expected to be any more disruptions to the project.

“We’re happy to have them get back to work,” said William Gorton, the regional director for Westchester for the state DOT.

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