The New York State Department of Transportation plans to replace two outdated culverts in Lewiston within the next two years.
The culverts are on state Routes 104 and 265 going over Fish Creek, in the neighborhood surrounded by Mount St. Mary’s Hospital, the Niagara Falls Country Club, and the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge. Tony Borrelli of Colliers Engineering & Design, who the state contracted to carry out this work, said in a presentation to the Lewiston Town Board on Monday that both had gone past their service life and work replacing them would start in spring 2027.
The culvert going over Route 265, Military Road, is 84 years old and is suffering from widespread deterioration and does not meet current design criteria for conveying and resisting storm flows. The Route 104 culvert is 63 years old and is also suffering from deterioration and concrete cracks.
Preliminary plans shown to the board and public show the two culverts will require new guide rails, tree removal and road reconstruction. The Route 265 culvert would need a 16-foot-wide by 7-foot-wide three-sided concrete structure, while the Route 104 culvert would need a 12-foot-wide by 7-foot-high four-sided structure with the water main running by relocated.
When work finally does get going on the culverts, only one will be worked on at a time to ensure no further traffic issues. No nighttime construction is anticipated.
The Military Road culvert will take between four and six weeks. The detour around the work would be along Upper Mountain Road, with local access maintained for the nearby residential neighborhoods.
The Route 104 culvert would take between 10 and 12 weeks and happen in two phases, with two traffic lanes maintained during construction.
This work is part of a larger culvert replacement initiative the DOT is carrying out, replacing 10 culverts in Western New York, four of them in Niagara County.
The DOT is gauging public feedback on the culvert designs and construction plans, with the final design phase to start later this year. Final plans will be finished next year. The final cost still has to be determined as well, with state and federal funding contributing.