It is the only way into the village from that direction. As such, it often carries heavy traffic on weekends between New Paltz and the Shawangunk Ridge. Due to the flood plains on the western side it has been closed in periods of high water on the river.
History
Two other bridges had been built at the location of the Carmine Liberta Bridge: a wooden covered bridge, erected in 1845,[2] and a 153-foot (47 m) iron bridge that had been built in 1891 at a cost of $677.[3] The current bridge was built in 1940 and reconstructed half a century later, in 1990. In 2008 the Ulster County Legislature formally named it for Carmine Liberta, a lifelong resident and Korean War veteran who had been active in local veterans' affairs and served as vice chair of the town Republican committee for 25 years.[4] Prior to its naming, the bridge was formally known as County Bridge No.135.[5]
In 2016, with the bridge nearing the end of its useful life, the county demolished the 1940 bridge and replaced it with a new one, a truss of weathering steel with lower arches, no overhead members and a wider deck. On the north side a 6-foot-wide (1.8 m) lighted walkway for pedestrian and bicycle traffic was added, to better connect with bike routes and facilitate the River-to-Ridge Trail, a planned hiking route between the Hudson River and the Shawangunk Ridge. To take advantage of an improved view of the ridge created by the lower bridge and cleared trees necessary for building a temporary replacement bridge during construction, an observation deck was built on the north side of Route 299 just east of the bridge.[6]
Following five months of construction at a cost of $2.4 million, the new bridge was formally opened and rededicated at the end of 2016. Ulster County Executive Mike Hein cut the ribbon, along with Carmine Liberta's widow Angie. He praised the project as "creating a waterfront in New Paltz for the first time since the 1600s."[7]
