<$BlogRSDURL$>

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Route 42 widening ahead

Gone are plans for looping roundabout intersections.

Gone are the planned high-powered lights around the intersections.

But the Department of Transportation will begin work this year on a $3.9 million road-widening project along Sullivan County’s main shopping strip, a notoriously busy stretch of Route 42 in the Town of Thompson.

The DOT has pushed the project ahead of other major Sullivan projects, like a total revamping of Broadway in the Village of Monticello, because of the many accidents and bottlenecks.

“Ask anybody who has driven down there in the summertime,” Thompson Councilman Bill Rieber said. “Just to continue any prosperity we have in the town we have to mitigate traffic problems in that section.”

Recently, the DOT was ripping up plans and proposing three roundabouts along the stretch from Anawana Lake Road to Concord Road. The DOT has now settled on a design with no roundabouts, one that requires no taking of private property or bulldozing of buildings. The project should be under construction in the fall and be completed in late 2007.

The project focuses on a roughly blocklong stretch running past a strip mall, The Home Depot, ShopRite and Town Hall.

The road will be widened by two 12-foot lanes, past the shopping mall and to the Town Hall intersection. Other features include sidewalks on both sides of the road; an extra turning lane on Anawana Lake Road to make it easier to get into Wal-Mart; a second lane to the Route 17 “Kiamesha” off ramp at Exit 105B; and various signal and signage improvements.

While under construction, drivers could face a daily nightmare attempting to get into the village or out to the towns of Fallsburg and Neversink.

The DOT has set a public information meeting for 6:30 tonight at the Town Hall, seeking input from residents on the project’s scope and construction times.

http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2006/03/14/news-11news1303-11.html

Comments: Post a Comment

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

Google
Chaptzem! Blog

-