BETHLEHEM — The Glenmont roundabout project will use the hybrid roundabout design, to be completed in spring 2021.
The $4.9 million project is planned to transform the current four-way stoplight intersection where Feura Bush and Glenmont roads meet with Rte. 9W into a roundabout. This would hopefully battle traffic congestion and reduce the likelihood of fatal right-angle and head-on crashes, which are common there. The project will also include pedestrian crosswalks, rectangular rapid-flashing beacons, and 2,800 feet of new sidewalk which would connect to Glenmont Elementary School and Vagele Lane.
With construction planned to commence in spring 2020, the project is being overseen by Bethlehem’s Planning Division, the state Department of Transportation, and Albany-based engineering firm Creighton Manning. The hybrid roundabout design — including single-lane exits, double-lane entrances, and rectangular rapid-flashing beacons at each crosswalk — had been one of three roundabout designs presented to the public back in mid-January. The other two designs were to retain the current stoplight intersection design that would be improved, and a single-lane roundabout.
Robert Leslie, the Planning Division’s director, had said to the Bethlehem Town Board on June 12 that the state DOT now has the hybrid roundabout design and it would leave commentary for the Town of Bethlehem to consider. Once Bethlehem receives the design and comments, he said that the town can start moving into finalizing the design for construction.
This will lead into a final public meeting sometime this fall to present that design, layout, and photo simulations.
Leslie added that there have been discussions so far regarding landscaping, like “what do we put around the roundabout and inside the middle of the roundabout. Would it be some kind of gateway treatment or beautification? These are some of the necessary improvements to make that roundabout attractive as we get past the design aspects.”
Leslie said the project would then go out to bid so that construction can start.
