By Jay Lawson
The New York State Department of Transportation (DOT) has scheduled an informational Open House to be held on Wednesday, April 15 at VIEW in Old Forge, according to Town of Webb Ted Riehle, who received notification Tuesday.
The DOT is planning a major Route 28 paving project from the Lakeview Avenue intersection in Old Forge to the Hamilton County line, north of Eagle Bay.
The top, deteriorated portion of the existing asphalt pavement will be removed and replaced with new asphalt and fresh pavement markings.
The work is expected to start in Spring 2015.
Construction is expected to be completed in Summer 2015.
The project cost is about $6,500,000.
The informational Open House at VIEW is expected to take place in two sessions, according to David Mosher, a NYS-DOT Region 2 civil engineer.
The times have yet to be finalized, but Mosher expects two sessions to be made available—one in the afternoon, a second in the evening.
There will be no presentation, but handouts will be provided.
DOT staff will be on hand to answer questions.
Mosher said planning for the project is done, the job having been put out for bid.
Since bids are scheduled for opening on April 9, the contract will be awarded in advance of the Open House at VIEW.
Crews won’t be doing much work on Route 28 till the middle or end of May, according to Mosher.
Included will be provisions to accommodate local travel needs during the summer tourist season.
That means work within the hamlet of Old Forge will not occur between July 4 and September 8.
Work schedules will be adjusted for traffic flows, and no lane closures are allowed.
The construction logistics and provisions to minimize local inconvenience will be the primary points of discussion at the April 15th Open House, Mosher said.
But, again, no changes will be happening.
“We are already beyond that part of the process,” Mosher said.
The DOT assures the Town of Webb that proper sensitivity to local needs has been factored into the planning of the project, according to Mosher.
And the work being done is somewhat routine, which makes the situation easier, he said.
“This project is pretty straightforward. It’s a paving project. There’s not a whole heck of a lot to it, no real sensitive issues,” Mosher said.
One part of the job involves removing the rustic guide rails along Route 28.
Mosher said the rustic rails have proven to be inadequate in that they fail prematurely.
He said it is a DOT initiative to replace them throughout the Adirondack Park.
“The new ones will be a galvanized rail. They last longer,” Mosher said.
“But for the majority of what we’re doing, it’s a paving project,” he said.
Mosher added that DOT is aware of the snags that happened last summer with the McKeever Bridge construction—which will be resuming in summer 2015—mainly traffic that backed up for extended distances on occasion.
“Since there’s been some concerns in the past year, we wanted to get out ahead of time and talk about all our projects on the Route 28 corridor. [Then] people can at least have knowledge of it and what to expect,” he said.