By JACOB RESNECK

Contributing Writer

LAKE PLACID — A new bridge connecting the famed Adirondack Loj trailhead with Route 73 could cost the Town of North Elba more than a million dollars.

Since the previous bridge was deemed unsafe more than a year ago, Adirondack Loj Road has been accessible by a temporary steel bridge over North Meadow Brook, on loan from the Essex County Department of Public Works.

The county stepped in with the one-lane span that had previously been used in Jay.

That was only a temporary solution, County Public Works Superintendent Fred Buck said in a Feb. 6 letter to North Elba Supervisor Roby Politi.

He wrote that if the town doesn’t progress with securing a new bridge of its own, the county’s bridge could be removed and used for a “more urgent county project.”

“I’m not trying to box them in a corner,” Buck said in an interview. “I just want to see that the project moves forward. I understand the town is seeking funding for it.”

Politi said he understands the county is serious. He’s been on the phone to Albany looking for grant money.

“Obviously, the bridge needs to be replaced,” Politi said. “But if I’m going to replace it, I have to do what is economically feasible for the community.”

He estimates that 95 percent of the traffic is to and from the Adirondack Mountain Club’s High Peaks Information Center, one of the most popular and most central trailheads in the Adirondack Park.

Adirondack Mountain Club Executive Director Neil Woodworth said his organization sympathizes with the town.

“We recognize that it’s a burden on the Town of North Elba,” Woodworth said. “We support the town in urging the state to take over the bridge. The traffic on that road is equivalent to a state highway.”

The State Department of Transportation’s position is it doesn’t have the authority to maintain or replace bridges on a town-owned road like this one.