Thursday, June 08, 2006
Troubled Ramapo intersection may get some relief
Holidays, it seems, are never a good time to be on the road. But Sinya Zareb says it's not any better for pedestrians.
Especially, the 20-year-old Spring Valley woman said, if you happen to be walking along the increasingly busy intersection of routes 59 and 306, which is a predominantly commercial corridor.
"I stay near the Spring Valley side now," she said, standing at the Monsey Marketplace strip mall on Route 59 and pointing farther down the road. "This area during the holidays is very, very dangerous. The way they turn, I'm not comfortable. It's too dangerous."
The heavy volume of traffic in the notoriously congested corridor of Route 59 from Kennedy Drive in Spring Valley to Route 306 in Monsey — a distance of just less than a mile — often prevents speeding, but is still seen as a danger to drivers and pedestrians.
The state Department of Transportation, which maintains Route 59, said more than 21,000 vehicles are estimated to travel daily in both directions through the intersection. In 2004, there were 54 accidents nearby, 12 with injuries.
Residents, business owners and state and local officials have expressed concern about the Route 59-Route 306 corridor because it serves what many describe as a "walking community."
Many people — often Orthodox Jews, whose population has grown in the area over the years — can be seen walking and frequenting the strip malls that line the road.
"Monsey is a walking community," Ramapo Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence said. "We have a lot of kids in the area. Mothers are pushing kids in baby carriages and they fight with traffic on 59."
Not much of Route 59 in the vicinity has sidewalks, forcing residents onto the crowded road.
That, Ramapo Detective Sgt. John Lynch said, can be a deadly combination.
Last year, a 67-year-old Monsey woman died after she was hit by a cement truck while crossing Route 59 near Robert Pitt Drive.
http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060608/NEWS03/606080345/1019
Holidays, it seems, are never a good time to be on the road. But Sinya Zareb says it's not any better for pedestrians.
Especially, the 20-year-old Spring Valley woman said, if you happen to be walking along the increasingly busy intersection of routes 59 and 306, which is a predominantly commercial corridor.
"I stay near the Spring Valley side now," she said, standing at the Monsey Marketplace strip mall on Route 59 and pointing farther down the road. "This area during the holidays is very, very dangerous. The way they turn, I'm not comfortable. It's too dangerous."
The heavy volume of traffic in the notoriously congested corridor of Route 59 from Kennedy Drive in Spring Valley to Route 306 in Monsey — a distance of just less than a mile — often prevents speeding, but is still seen as a danger to drivers and pedestrians.
The state Department of Transportation, which maintains Route 59, said more than 21,000 vehicles are estimated to travel daily in both directions through the intersection. In 2004, there were 54 accidents nearby, 12 with injuries.
Residents, business owners and state and local officials have expressed concern about the Route 59-Route 306 corridor because it serves what many describe as a "walking community."
Many people — often Orthodox Jews, whose population has grown in the area over the years — can be seen walking and frequenting the strip malls that line the road.
"Monsey is a walking community," Ramapo Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence said. "We have a lot of kids in the area. Mothers are pushing kids in baby carriages and they fight with traffic on 59."
Not much of Route 59 in the vicinity has sidewalks, forcing residents onto the crowded road.
That, Ramapo Detective Sgt. John Lynch said, can be a deadly combination.
Last year, a 67-year-old Monsey woman died after she was hit by a cement truck while crossing Route 59 near Robert Pitt Drive.
http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060608/NEWS03/606080345/1019
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