Posted on March 25, 2020
OGDENSBURG — Commercial traffic is about all there is on the Ogdensburg-Prescott International Bridge.
“It’s extremely slow, as far as what we are used to,” said Steven Lawrence, interim executive director of the Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority. “Other than commercial traffic, and that’s been reduced, it looks like 10 at night out there.”
The Ogdensburg International Airport, which is also run by the Bridge and Port Authority, has been affected by the measures put in place to combat the spread of coronavirus.
“At the airport, that’s been reduced quite a bit,” Mr. Lawrence said.
It is still possible to book a flight out of and into the airport, but not everything is running as usual.
“We had some flights from SkyWest, our EAS airline, they canceled some flights and there was one flight canceled this morning because the night flight did not come in,” Mr. Lawrence said. “Allegiant is still flying. We just presume it is because they are bringing a number of people that are booked to come back.”
Mr. Lawrence said the airport is seeing more arrivals than departures.
At the Port of Ogdensburg there is work that must continue, even when the Seaway is shut down for the season.
The port serves as a commodity depot.
“There are municipalities that are still taking road salt,” Mr. Lawrence said. “And we do a lot of grain business.”
There are some heavy lift projects scheduled to begin once the Seaway opens up, Mr. Lawrence said.
One of the so-called heavy lift projects is the storage and distribution of wind turbine parts.
In the office at the Port Authority, non-essential office workers have been sent home or put on a rotating schedule, Mr. Lawrence said, while staff still needs to be in place at the airport, the port, on the bridge and at the industrial park.
“We have to try to run our business efficiently,” he said. “But our highest priority is people’s health.”
Source: nny360
