Thursday, August 10, 2006
Monsey roadwork set to begin by 2007
An extensive road-improvement project in a notoriously congested area of Monsey is expected to begin by early next year.
The nearly $2 million project includes widening Maple Avenue between Route 306 and Monsey Boulevard, as well as adding antique lamp posts, turn lanes, sidewalks and curbs on both sides of the avenue, said Howard Lampert, the town's traffic consultant.
"This is one of the largest projects the town has ever done," said Lampert, who is based in New Rochelle. "This is a total reconstruction of the road. This should have been done years ago."
The stretch of road serves a walking community — comprised mostly of Orthodox Jews, whose population has grown in the area over the years — and the lack of sidewalks creates a potential hazard for drivers and pedestrians.
Lampert said the town's plan includes flattening that section of Maple Avenue, which may appear level but in certain areas has a 6 percent grade, and widening the road from about 24 feet to 34 feet.
The widening would include adding a westbound right-turn lane on Maple and another lane to allow drivers to make a left turn at every intersection, Lampert said.
He said the project also includes widening Monsey Boulevard to two lanes and adding a left-turn lane.
"That area is a bottleneck," Lampert said. "That'll be eliminated when we're finished."
He added that the town was applying to the state for money from the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program to create other turn lanes, one of which would provide a right turn onto Route 306.
Accidents that have caused deaths and serious injuries in the surrounding area in the past few months have prompted the town to look for ways to make the Route 306 corridor safer.
"We are going to continue to look at ways to separate vehicles from pedestrian traffic," Ramapo Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence said.
He said he planned to go to Washington, D.C., next month to seek federal funding to install sidewalks along portions of Route 59.
In addition, the town and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority are close to signing a 25-year lease for land on an abandoned rail line that the town plans to use for a 3,000-foot-long, paved walkway.
http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060810/NEWS03/608100343/1019/NEWS03
An extensive road-improvement project in a notoriously congested area of Monsey is expected to begin by early next year.
The nearly $2 million project includes widening Maple Avenue between Route 306 and Monsey Boulevard, as well as adding antique lamp posts, turn lanes, sidewalks and curbs on both sides of the avenue, said Howard Lampert, the town's traffic consultant.
"This is one of the largest projects the town has ever done," said Lampert, who is based in New Rochelle. "This is a total reconstruction of the road. This should have been done years ago."
The stretch of road serves a walking community — comprised mostly of Orthodox Jews, whose population has grown in the area over the years — and the lack of sidewalks creates a potential hazard for drivers and pedestrians.
Lampert said the town's plan includes flattening that section of Maple Avenue, which may appear level but in certain areas has a 6 percent grade, and widening the road from about 24 feet to 34 feet.
The widening would include adding a westbound right-turn lane on Maple and another lane to allow drivers to make a left turn at every intersection, Lampert said.
He said the project also includes widening Monsey Boulevard to two lanes and adding a left-turn lane.
"That area is a bottleneck," Lampert said. "That'll be eliminated when we're finished."
He added that the town was applying to the state for money from the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program to create other turn lanes, one of which would provide a right turn onto Route 306.
Accidents that have caused deaths and serious injuries in the surrounding area in the past few months have prompted the town to look for ways to make the Route 306 corridor safer.
"We are going to continue to look at ways to separate vehicles from pedestrian traffic," Ramapo Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence said.
He said he planned to go to Washington, D.C., next month to seek federal funding to install sidewalks along portions of Route 59.
In addition, the town and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority are close to signing a 25-year lease for land on an abandoned rail line that the town plans to use for a 3,000-foot-long, paved walkway.
http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060810/NEWS03/608100343/1019/NEWS03
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