OXFORD – Replacing the Main Street Bridge in the Village of Oxford won’t be happening any time soon, and local taxpayers could be forced to pick up the estimated $3.2 million price tag.

New York State is taking back major portions of federal aid previously allocated to counties for locally-administered projects, including the 56-year old span that bisects the village.

Six of the seven counties that make up Region 9 of the NYS Department of Transportation learned Monday that $57 million would be held back by the state, leaving $20.7 million over the next five years to cover projects in Otsego, Sullivan, Tioga, Chenango, Delaware, Schoharie, and Broome, including those in the City of Binghamton.

In a reference to the current fiscal crisis on Wall Street and around the globe, Chenango County Department of Public Works Director Randy Gibbon said, “This is nuts. It just shows you how bad New York City financially is. I don’t know what it’s going to do to us if that bridge isn’t funded.”

The Chenango County Department of Public Works repaired cracks in the bridge’s foundation two years ago and fast-tracked it on the work schedule for 2009.