Lower Hudson Transit Link starts this Month

Above is the westbound lane (from left to right): median shoulder, next two lanes for passenger cars only, next two lanes are travel lanes (not limited to passenger vehicles), then a bus lane/emergency access lane, then a shoulder and finally the path and overlooks. Renderings are from the NYS Department of Transportation.

Red/green ramp meter signals will be installed from Exit 14A in Rockland County to Exit 4 in Westchester County and will regulate vehicular flow entering the highway to manage roadway congestion. Three will be intalled in Westchester by the end of October 2018; the others will be installed in 2019 and 2020.

A dedicated lane on each span of the new bridge can save up to five minutes on typical weekday commutes and additional time travel when there are major traffic incidents. The state police also enforce proper lane use. Look for the lane on the eastbound span at the end of this month and on the westbound span when the new path is finished in 2019.

New York State Police will enforce traffic rules at the ramp meters; drivers who fail to stop at a red ramp meter light can be fined the equivalent of a regular traffic signal violation.

For information, visit http://www.dot.ny.gov/LHTL.

I’d like to know what you think.

Copyright © Janie Rosman and Kaleidoscope Eyes 2018

New Windows and Info at Outreach Centers

Socks, sneakers and wheels indicate a sign of the path to come/NYS Thruway Authority

Last week, I visited Nyack Outreach Center and missed the bicycle spokes and socks. Interesting visuals; the inside showed the new path and six overlooks. Now that the bridge is finished, crews continue working on the path and landings, its buildings and the new state police headquarters.

The only thing the new bridge hasn’t changed is the traffic. Maybe one day?

I’d like to know what you think.

Copyright © Janie Rosman and Kaleidoscope Eyes 2018

Afternoon Traffic continues despite New Bridge

Here’s the view from Westchester Avenue this afternoon near 4 p.m. as traffic was backed beyond Exit 8 on I-287 eastbound. How did the new bridge resolve corridor congestion? This continues to be a familiar site.

It’s an average of 8.6 miles from the exit sign on Westchester Avenue in White Plains to 303 S. Broadway in Tarrytown. Wonder how long it took the drivers to reach the bridge?

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Of all the ongoing work, what saddens me most is the Esposito Trail, closed for two months from Clinton Avenue and South Franklin Street to Village Hall. You’ll have to detour to South Broadway and through Elizabeth Place Park.

Per the project team:

“Additionally, crews will continue drilling and installing piles along Hillside Avenue, necessitating temporary lane closures. Flag persons will keep traffic moving by alternating the directional flow between east and west. Ramp construction will also continue for the new connection between Interchange 10 and Hillside Avenue.”

I’d like to know what you think.

Copyright © Janie Rosman and Kaleidoscope Eyes 2018

Esposito Trail is cleared for New Bridge’s Path

Crews are building a shared use path on the new bridge’s westbound span that has an extension directly into a South Nyack neighborhood, doesn’t connect to the Tarrytown train station and is 3.6 miles with little shade. Above is a photo of the Esposito Trail taken last July, when nature was at its seasonal finest.

Recent photo of the now-barren Esposito Trail in South Nyack taken by Kristy Leader

A new video promoting the path starts at the parking lot and bypasses the Clinton Avenue exit in South Nyack for which trees — lush and green in spring and summer — along the trail were removed from Clinton Avenue and South Franklin Street to Village Hall

Initial work on the path and tree removal began two months ago. To reiterate how I felt last year and still do, it’s hard for me to imagine what it will be like walking the trail, which will remain cinder, once the new path is built.

I’d like to know what you think.

Copyright © Janie Rosman and Kaleidoscope Eyes 2018

Shared Use Path Construction and Mom Thoughts

Here’s what I saw yesterday on the Westchester approach span en route to Nyack, where I walked and then stopped and then stopped into the Outreach Center. Its windows are decorated with blue sneakers that I thought represent the river. The young man at the desk said they represent the under-construction path on the westbound span.

It took me endless hours to write because I wanted it to be perfect until one friend said, “You only need to make it real, honest and raw.” Tonight I venture there again, this time with a post about mom and the shared use path now I glimpsed after the lane switches last week.

I’d been writing about how mom wants to see the new bridge and the path, and how she’d love to view the Hudson Valley and the lighthouse and the mountains. Today I learned that might not happen as the prognosis for mom walking again is not good. Something happened during the time was recuperating from hip joint replacement surgery and was unable to drive and, thus, visit her. She told me someone pushed her wheelchair so her right knee buckled under her; it’s pained her since.

Worse yet, one of the aides from an agency we no longer use dropped mom while transferring her from her bed to her wheelchair, resulting in a visit by EMS and a day at a local hospital’s emergency room.

My heart is heavy. I so wanted mom to see the results of what we watched being built (above photo from February 2017) every time we drove to Memorial Park in Nyack or to one of the stores in West Nyack. It was a treat for her, a day trip, and I wish I could turn back the clock.

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One of the overlook renderings included a person in a wheelchair (see last image above); however, the rendering was changed. See the difference between that and the photo below? Someone changed it? Why?

The above rendering is the first you see in this presentation. I’ve written about lack of shade on the path and the overlooks; perhaps the final designs will offer more protection from the sun.

I’d like to know what you think.

Copyright © Janie Rosman and Kaleidoscope Eyes 2018