Dig planned for site of proposed NY-Vt. ferry

ALBANY -- A New York archaeological team will excavate part of a state-owned campground at an 18th-century military site where a temporary ferry service is being considered to replace the closed Champlain Bridge.

State officials say the experts from the New York State Museum in Albany are starting work Friday at the Crown Point campground, adjacent to the bridge at the south end of Lake Champlain 95 miles north of Albany.

New York transportation officials closed the bridge Oct. 16 after severe erosion was found on some of the concrete piers supporting the span, which connects Crown Point, N.Y., and Addison, Vt.

A temporary ferry service would require construction on both shorelines at historically sensitive sites that were home to British and French forts and settlements in the 1700s.

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