WASHINGTON - Plans to build a new Pond Eddy Bridge connecting Pennsylvania with New York State would be a waste of money, Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) said Wednesday. He wrote to New York Transportation Commissioner Joan McDonald and told her so much, calling it a “bridge to nowhere.”

The proposed structure, for which New York would contribute $5 million, should be scrapped and the existing historic bridge, built in 1904, should be rehabilitated, Hinchey said.

“The estimated $12 million construction cost of the new bridge far exceeds the total market value of the few homes and private lots that a new structure would ostensibly serve and this existing bridge, slated for removal, is only one of four petit truss bridges surviving in New York State and it’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places,” Hinchey said.

Hinchey is also concerned that the project would require interruption of the free flow of the Delaware River for at least one year and that would negatively impact recreational use of the river, hurting the local tourism economy.