Richard Moody is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media Columbia County officials are considering whether to tear down the Bingham Mills Bridge, a span that connects Mill Road to Bingham Mills Road, between the towns of Clermont and Livingston. The bridge has been closed for about seven years. The members of the Columbia County Board of Supervisors Public Works Committee discussed at a meeting July 25, taking down the bridge rather than reopening it for vehicle or pedestrian traffic. The committee eventually approved a resolution calling for the demolition of the bridge by Town and County Bridge and Rail Corp. at the cost of more than $127,000. The committee decision came after a petition was circulated in the town of Clermont that collected more than 400 signatures — including local emergency services — in support of reopening the bridge. The bridge was once used by local emergency services as a short cut, said Clermont Town Supervisor Raymond Staats, who presented the petition to the committee prior to the vote July 25. A petition in favor of the demolition was circulated and collected 33 signatures. Columbia County Engineering Director Dean Knox estimates the cost of reopening the bridge would be anywhere from $600,000 to $700,000. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.