Lake Champlain Bridge Commission Construction, Maintenance, and Administrative Records of the Lake Champlain (or Crown Point)…

Arranged by type of record and therein chronological.

B1417-16: Unarranged.

In 1923, the Vermont General Assembly appointed a commission to study the feasibility of bridges across Lake Champlain, concluding that New York State should be involved in bridge planning. In 1925, the commission was reorganized and New York State appointed a commission to work with Vermont. The Joint Bridge Commission of New York and Vermont recommended the creation of a Bridge Commission by compact between the states and immediate construction of a bridge between Crown Point, New York and Chimney Point, Vermont. The compact creating the Lake Champlain Bridge Commission was signed on May 11, 1927. The commission consisted of three members each from both states and had the power to construct, maintain, and operate a bridge.

The Lake Champlain (Or Crown Point) Bridge opened on August 26, 1929. A 1935 amendment to the compact allowed the building of a second bridge. The Rouses Pointe Bridge, funded by a grant from the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works, was completed in 1937. Both bridges were designed by the engineering firm of Fay, Spofford & Thorndike, which also served as consultants to the commission throughout its life.

By the mid 1970s, Rouses Point Bridge was badly deteriorated and plans were made to replace it. The new Rouses Point Bridge opened in 1987. On December 11, 1987 the commission was abolished; both the bridges became toll free. All functions of the commission were transferred to the Vermont Agency of Transportation (AOT) and the New York State Department of Transportation.

The series consists of 16 mm negative black and white diazo microfilm of records of the Lake Champlain Bridge Commission. Included is information on the formation of the original joint commission and the subsequent bridge commission; work on planning, building, operating, and maintaining both the Lake Champlain (or Crown Point) Bridge from Crown Point, New York to Chimney Point, Vermont, and the Rouses Point Bridge (and its replacement); and related work of the commission through to its dissolution.

Records include minutes of the New York and Vermont Joint Bridge Commission and the Lake Champlain Bridge Commission; general and engineer's correspondence on bridge construction, repairs, inspections, toll rates, finances, advertising, and contracts; legal records on governing rules and regulations of the commission, amendments to the inter-state compact, federal and state acts and resolutions, and deeds and abstracts of titles; contract files on bidders, specifications, bids, contracts, progress reports, and plans; and records on the design and construction, repair, and maintenance of the bridges.

Oversize maps and drawings were not filmed and are not a part of the series. There is a gap in the records from 1939 through 1954, apparently due to a fire which destroyed the commission's Swanton office in 1970, and to the fact that the bridges were still new and needed few repairs during that time.

B1417-16: This accretion consists of blueprint plans used in planning and construction of the Crown Point Bridge. Documentation includes elevations, data related to borings, plans of land to be utilized, electrical wiring schematics, contract drawings, substructures, highway approaches, and other construction features.

Microfilm: 18 rolls; 16 mm.

Folder list and microfilm roll list are available at the repository.

This microfilm was produced by the Vermont State Archives, which agreed to take the lead in identifying and preserving the records of the commission (which was operated jointly by New York State and Vermont) and to provide a copy of the microfilm to the New York State Archives at cost. Original records and microfilm remain in the custody of the Vermont State Archives.

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of this material.