Tug moving huge barge should reach Orleans today

Pedestrian bridge headed to Buffalo has drawn lots of interest on canal journey

A much-anticipated canal user is expected to reach Orleans County today. A tug pushing a long barge with a pedestrian bridge should reach Holley and Albion today.

Carver Companies has the bridge destined for Buffalo on two different barges. One is in Rochester and the other in Pittsford to start the morning.

Carver Companies posted on social media it would leave Rochester around 6 a.m. and head west and stop between Rochester and Lockport, and then tie up the barge and send the tug back to Pittsford to get the other barge.

It listed the estimated time of arrival as 9:15 a.m. in Spencerport, 11:15 a.m. in Brockport, 11:30 in Holley and 12:30 in Albion.

“As our journey continues we have now entered the Western End of the Canal,” Carver Companies posted. “This end of the canal has not been used for commercial traffic in quite some time. We will do our best to give accurate ETA’s but please understand that we have to take this section of canal carefully and slowly to ensure safe passage for the tug, barges, and crew. We will do our best to give everyone as accurate a time as possible.”

Carver encouraged people to follow its Facebook page for more up-to-date information.

The 266-foot-long bridge is in four sections and has travelled about 300 miles of a 370-mile-long journey on the canal. The bridge is for Ralph Wilson Park Conservancy in Buffalo for a new 266-foot pedestrian walkway that will span across interstate I-190 and the CSX rail line. It will link a new park with the lower west side neighborhood of Buffalo.

Carver Companies is using two barges that are 195 feet long and 35 feet wide to move the bridge pieces. The company has moved big cargo on the canal before. In 2017 it transported Genesee Brewing’s beer tanks.