Residents and business owners were invited to share comments about proposed sidewalk improvements along Western Avenue in Guilderland, but most thoughts centered on drainage issues and fears that future repairs would require new sidewalks to be ripped out and repaved.
Around 45 people attended the state Department of Transportation’s public information meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 23, concerning the planned sidewalk improvement project, which would also tackle crosswalks and meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements.
The project area stretches approximately three miles from around Alvina Boulevard to the entrance of the University at Albany. Sidewalk would be installed in most locations where there are none and replaced where they fail to meet standards.
The project would be completed in two phases and cost $2.6 million. The first phase would tackle the north side of Western Avenue and begin in the spring of next year, to be “substantially completed” in 2014. The second phase would focus on the south side of the street, with work starting the fall of next year and completed in the spring to summer of 2015.
The Capital District Transportation Committee approved the project through a competitive process. The agency distributes federal transportation funding for the Capital District.
“Bicycle and pedestrian improvements are an important part of our long range revisions plan,” said Christopher O’Neill, principal transportation planner for CDTC. “We see this project as making a significant achievement in (pedestrian access). We do think that pedestrian improvements are very important to the transportation systems of the community.”
O’Neill said the project includes many safety benefits for pedestrians and motorists.
Nancy Dover, a Knowles Terrace resident, came to the meeting to learn more about the project and show support. Dover, who lives off Western Avenue, said her concerns are likely different from property owners along Route 20.
“From where I live, there is no sidewalk and there is also no shoulder in the road, which means that come winter it is basically impassable on foot,” Dover said.
Geoffrey Wood, design supervisor for the project, said the DOT is “confident” the $2.6 million budgeted would be sufficient for all renovations, but there are not “any firm numbers exactly yet.”
Several people questioned why the project would not tackle any drainage issues, particularly in the hamlet of McKownville, but Wood said federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement funds could only be used for specific purposes.
McKownville residents have complained of basements flooding often during rainstorms.
“It is impossible for me to say off the top of my head how roadway drainage relates to wet basements,” Wood said.
There are still some improvements that should yield better drainage.
“I have seen places where the sidewalk is two feet below the road. So we are going to bring that up, and all the water from that sidewalk is going to drain to the street, and run along curb and go in the catch basins along the street,” Wood said. “I have heard stories that there are some issues with the piping system underground.”
Don Reeb, president of the McKownville Improvement Association, claimed the DOT only puts down asphalt when a broken pipe causes the road to cave in. He said the broken pipe is never repaired.
“We seem to have not been able to get any reaction from DOT at all about coming in and fixing those (state-owned) lines or enlarging them so that we don’t have the water backed up,” Reeb said.
Wood said “if money were no object,” then repairs would also be made to the drainage system.
Doug Smith, a McKown Road resident, said the DOT should be “smart” and coordinate to get needed drainage repairs completed, so new sidewalks are not ripped up again.
Gavin Hogan, a Westlyn Court resident, agreed with Smith and said different sections of the department should work together so the same “mess” isn’t made a year later.
Wood said it’s too late in the process for drainage to be tackled.
“The planning that you are talking about, either it has occurred or it hasn’t occurred,” he said. “We can’t just now, at the last minute, do a new project. It really takes years to get to this point.”