The Westmere Elementary School gymnasium was packed Thursday, Nov. 29, with residents of New Scotland and Guilderland as Jeff Pangburn of Creighton Manning Engineering explained Albany County’s proposed rehabilitation project on Normanskill and Johnston roads.
The project will rehabilitate 7.68 miles of Johnston Road in the towns of Guilderland and New Scotland from state Route 155 to U.S. Route 20.
The project includes reconstructing the pavement, installing new curbs and sidewalks, and improving drainage and bicycle and pedestrian facilities.
Construction is tentatively scheduled to begin in spring and be completed by the end of 2008. The estimated total cost of the project is $10.3 million, which will be financed through a county bond issue, according to Albany County’s Department of Public Works Web site.
Pangburn said the project will not be touching homes, and there will be minimal wetland approaches.
We switched the sidewalk design to the east side so the majority of the way will have the least impact to properties and wetlands, Pangburn said.
He said trees might have to be taken down along the Oxford Heights Apartments area, but the area will be replanted with smaller trees and there will be a three-way intersection on Veeder Road to slow down traffic.
Since the first public meeting on the topic last summer, the county has analyzed the feedback and comments and made certain changes to the project, including relocating the sidewalk between Garnett Lane and Western Avenue to the east side, flattened the horizontal curve at Glen Hollow Road to meet minimum standards, designed a new vertical alignment to provide adequate stopping sight distance, identified potential right-of-way impacts and reached out to the property owners and addressed existing drainage issues.
Barbara Scher of Normanskill Road asked the county to allow a water main to be installed in conjunction with the project in order to provide water to families residing on Normanskill and Wormer roads in the town of New Scotland.
Pangburn said the county is working with the towns of Guilderland and New Scotland, but it was difficult as engineers to influence the decision.
`This is more relevant to the towns’ regulatory and political conditions. Should the towns want to incorporate it in, it must be driven by the town supervisors,` he said.
Claire Nolan of McKownville said she is an avid bicycle rider and welcomes the fact the county is constructing pedestrian paths and bicycle shoulders.
`People will start listening to their hearts and ride bikes more,` she said.
Joe Satalino of Johnston Road said he has no confidence that the engineers will do a good job at reconstructing the road, and when something goes wrong the county will not act. `We just want to be left alone,` Satalino said.
New Scotland Supervisor-elect Thomas Dolin lauded the highway improvement project.
`New Scotland in general is a popular biking center with nearby Thacher Park and Route 85,` Dolin said. `This is a nice improvement for the community and for those outside the community who love to go biking.`
Dolin said he wants to have discussions with Albany County to allow the project to be split into two parts so the town can have time to form a water district to provide a water main to New Scotland residents. He said the process could take as long as six months.“