Transportation officials announced today that the Champlain Bridge, which was closed last month due to severe erosion found on some of the concrete piers supporting the span, cannot be rehabilitated.

The 2,184-foot bridge connects Crown Point, N.Y., and Addison and accommodated about 3,500 vehicles a day before it was closed by New York transportation officials Oct. 16.

“It cannot be rehabilitated and we need to tear it down for safety reasons,” Acting New York Department of Transportation Commissioner Stanley Gee said of the bridge at a press conference held this afternoon in Addison.

Gee said transportation officials in Vermont and New York are now in the process of designing a way to demolish the bridge as well as coming up with a design for a replacement bridge.