Following a weekend of traffic delays on Route 28 due to the ongoing McKeever Bridge reconstruction project, Town of Webb Supervisor Ted Riehle reported to the town board that adjustments are sorely needed to circumvent future problems.
“There have been a lot of problems with traffic signals…this past weekend was horrible,” he said.
Riehle was referring to traffic backups from last weekend that at times had motorists being delayed by an hour or more.
Complaints earlier this summer had Riehle urging the New York State Department of Transportation to reprogram the temporary three-light signal currently being used to control traffic across the bridge that has been reduced to one lane.
The snags of this weekend had Riehle back on the phone.
“Today I talked with the Regional Traffic Engineer for the DOT out of Utica. I also talked with Captain Frank Coots, the [State Police] Troop D Commander,” he said.
Both assured Riehle that they will be forgoing the automated signal, instead doing manual traffic control for the remainder of the summer, as well as heavy traffic days through the end of September.
“They had been trying to reprogram the signal; it just wasn’t working,” Riehle said. “They realized that. They understand that there’s a serious problem with traffic backup.”
“They feel the only way they can adequately address that is with manual flaggers to keep people moving as quickly as possible,” he said.
Riehle said that a DOT spokesperson was shocked at the traffic load and resulting insufficiency of the logistical traffic flow arrangements that had been put in place for the bridge project.
They had compiled vehicle counts last year that indicated the busiest traffic week to be at the end of September.
“So, they do realize this isn’t going to be short-term till Labor Day,” Riehle said.
They understand that decent weekend weather will bring large numbers of people wanting to visit through leaf season, he said.
Riehle also spoke with the DOT about handling next summer, as the project is not slated for completion until fall of 2015.
“They are going to try to rearrange construction schedules,” Riehle said. “There is till going to be an interruption in traffic, but they are going to try and minimize it.”
Additionally, the State Police have offered assistance.
“The troopers are monitoring it, and if they see a problem, they will be manually addressing it,” Riehle said.
Councilwoman Kate Russell seized on the fact that the DOT had been planning this project for a considerable time, yet failed to notify officials in the Town of Webb.
She said the installation of the traffic control lights prompted questions to town officials, who had no clue why they had been erected.
Supervisor Riehle contacted the DOT in search of answers.
Only then was it revealed that a major project, that would reduce the town’s busy southern thoroughfare to a single lane, was already under way.
Also revealed, was that this project would span two busy tourist seasons, the summers of 2014 and 2015.
Russell said she was appalled at the wanton disregard for the community by the DOT, in not having notified the Town of Webb in any form.
Councilwoman Mary Brophy Moore voiced her dismay, as well. “Appalled is a good word,” she said in agreeing with Councilwoman Russell.
“They were counting traffic last year; that means they knew about this project since [at least] last year,” Russell said. “Why and who was responsible, that this town was never informed of this project?”
Russell acknowledged that Route 28 and the bridge are the property of New York State. However, the communities that rely on them for travel, have a stake as well, she said.
“How is it possible that a project that affects our community in such a way—since we only have one road in, and the same road that takes us back out—how did they get away with never telling us and notifying us that this would be happening, or giving us any opportunity to comment,” she said.
Other than travel disruptions to residents, visitors and the local workforce, Russell described emergency response and evacuation problems that could have plausibly occurred over the past weekend while traffic backed up reportedly as far as seven miles.
“How would [emergency vehicles] have gotten here…if we had a massive catastrophe…and needed ambulances coming from every which way?” she said.
“I don’t think the state ever thought about our safety, our welfare—anything in our community and what it’s based on, or [the importance of] our summer tourism,” she said.
Councilwoman Russell said she urges people to speak up about the handling of this project, specifically the DOT’s disregard of the communities affected.
“Just like people did with the roads…they need to start calling all of those assemblymen and congressmen and women. People need to start voicing their disgust over this project, and how we were not thought of at all,” she said.