Get ready for commuter hell in New Rochelle courtesy of the New York State Thruway Authority.
The North Avenue Utility Relocation Project will begin next week. Over the next year and a half, utility lines carried by the North Avenue Bridge will be relocated in anticipation of demolishing the bridge in 2015. The bridge will then be replaced.
VOTE NOW: Will the Closing of North Avenue in May Have a Major Impact on You?
New Rochelle’s traffic nightmare begins on February 23rd with minor street closings on North Avenue near the New Rochelle train station. By April, there will be complete lane closures on North Avenue and by mid-May the area around the train station at North Avenue (Station Plaza North, Burling Lane, and Garden Street. Parking in the area will also be closed off intermittently which will impact residences and medical offices along Burling Lane.
New Rochelle residents were warned by City officials to stay away from the area around the train station during the construction period which begins in earnest around May 15th and is expected to go on for 18 months.
UPDATE: See Editor’s Note after the jump.
City Manager Charles B. Strome told the City Council last night that the New York State Thruway Authority has requested permission to work overnight but that he denied the request. He added that the City would make efforts to minimize the disruption to commuters.
The New York State Thruway Authority does not have a history of being accommodating to residents.
Last July, Talk of the Sound was the first to report that the New York State Thruway Authority had, without informing the City of New Rochelle, closed the Center Avenue Bridge. That closure went on for weeks, causing significant disruption for businesses in the area and complicating life for West End residents who rely on the bridge to reach the New Rochelle downtown area.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The City has issued a press release, North Ave Construction Project to Begin 2/23 which either corrects or clarifies statements last night or our understanding of those statements. Take your pick. Rather than review the video tape and sort that out we just want readers to be aware of the project and note the following corrections and clarifications sent by City Spokesperson Kathy Gilwit to the above.
The plan calls for lane closures beginning April 17- there is no “mid-May” date. Burling Lane is only closed from May St. to North Ave. When the Burling Lane work is completed it will reopen and the North Ave work will begin in earnest, and in phases that will impact selected areas in sequence (not all at once).
The North Avenue work is expected to commence April 17. The 18 month timetable starts 2/23, conditions permitting. The advice for commuters to the area is to prepare for delays or find alternate routes.
Kathy appears to know more than anyone about this as she has been sitting in on the various meetings and developing the communications strategy to make sure residents are fully aware of this project so we certainly defer to her. She did make the point that some of the information, especially the far dates in the plan, have been somewhat fluid because there is currently no design for the new bridge and no contractor to build it. The key takeaway is that residents need to be mindful of this project — read the posted notices, plan alternate routes, leave extra time to catch a train — to minimize surprises and aggravation.
February 23 Huh?
So I made it a point this morning to look around the train station and transit center for any notice of the impending closure of North Avenue but to no avail. Nothing Nowhere! You would figure that the commuters who use the train station every weekday would be notified that life is going to change drastically in the next few days for a projected 18 months (hahahahahaha, I m sorry I’m still laughing at that) but that really is not the New Rochelle way is it? The last time New Rochelle was proactive about anything was 19NEVER.
Maybe we can remake those bikepath signs that lead to nowhere into detour signs. Yes, the city did mention that work would be done on the bridge but that announcement came right after that initial utility bridge was built a year or so ago. They can put up a sign telling me the train station bathrooms are closed how about some kind of notice AT THE SOURCE that North Ave will be shut, when it will be shut and how we should get around it. That would be a simple way to show me that you are actually looking out for the people or is the impending condemnation of the suddenly overnight decrepit, dangerous, unsafe, hazardous city yard taking up too much time? (you want to move the city yard, I get it, but don’t be disingenuous about your reasoning. I have not toured the grounds but if it is as bad as you say where is the outcry from those that work there)
Perception of Poor Communication
The North Ave Construction Project is not the only announcement we have missed. The New York-Connecticut Sustainable Communities Consortium would have been interesting, but it was yesterday. A quote from the artic may come back to haunt them. The Mayor said, “We can accomplish more by working together than we can on our own, and this forum will illustrate the positive potential of a cooperative relationship among communities”. The communication in this whole mess stinks. I have said at several Citizens to be Heard. Just because you put it on the city website under the heading announcements does not mean the entire city knows about the announcements. Half the time even when you are on the web site for other things the announcements go unnoticed. How many people know about an on-line survey for the use of federal Community Development Block Grant and HOME funds for 2013-2017? Did anyone do the survey?
Let’s get on the same page some day!
More people here than city web site
Bob,
While you are certainly right, it is a bit like shouting at the waves to try to convince the government to communicate better. Like all governments they feature what they think makes them look good and do not feature what they think makes them look bad.
That is the role of the fourth estate.
It is now a bit dated but you can read We The Media by Dan Gillmor which explains all the ways in which you and I are the media thanks to the power of the Internet.
http://oreilly.com/openbook/wemedia/book/index.html
If you jump to Page 104 (http://oreilly.com/catalog/wemedia/book/ch10.pdf) you will find a mention of me in there.
The main point is that you and I and other residents of New Rochelle can use the Internet to bypass traditional gatekeepers like government and mainstream news outlets like Journal News or a TV station or radio or magazine. You can speak directly to your fellow residents through the web.
In the case you cite, if you want more to take the CDBG poll, just write a story about with with a good, catchy headline (make sure to use the word “New Rochelle”) in it and add a link to the poll. End your article by encouraging people to take the poll and add a comment about their experience.
This is free, immediate and will actually accomplish your objective — all in time it took to write your comment above.
As always, I am available to assist you in this should you need help! 🙂
Yesterday and Today — Same in New Rochelle
The NYS highway with its effects on New Rochelle is a done deal. No sense perserverating on it. Negrin is correct, the history of 287 overrides as well as necessary city mandates on off hour considerations on construction will ensure that will happen.
It comes to us like a typhoon. You wake up and it is here. Perhaps some early-onn planning around contracting for commuter busing would have help parking and reduced infrastructure and road issues. Never was considerd; yet fairly standard in these sorts of situations.
A lack of planning also typifies the City Yard situation. It,too, is a fait accompli and likely necessary given the previous planning, whether adequate, informative or helpful. It does contain tons of issues around basic community servicing and planning. For example, it took the administration until february 14 to do the logical thing of explaining what it is and not in a city yard. The same day was noteworthy for its rude behavior toward a council member who merely wanted to place something up for a vote. Simply said, every important aspect or phase of a community plan, negative or position, require a vote to establish a record.
It would have been more informative to break down the costs of each site for community inspection, remind the community about what the criteria was earlier for site selection, and take extra pains to bring district one people into the process and sensitively and with concern and care, allay fears. might have been wise to choose an engineer firm with no city ties as well.
going ahead with Albanese is a disaste in simple fiscal plannng and urban responsibiilty. you don’t plant a rose in the middle of a dung heap. downtown new rochelle is analgous to a dung heap in terms of care and attention and it requires compassionate and loving care. It must be number one priority on restoration and renewal.
every citizen wherever he or she comes from in the Queen City must support the city, Love of “diversity” begins, like charity, at home. help people here and stop any thought of downtown or midtown folks being chronic complainers. walk a step in their shoes, not a mile. be compassionate and understand that we are morphing in the wrong direction.
Albanese is anththethical to common sense and sound planning. I think freimuth sees this. maybe not, but you need to see this. vote it down and vote for restoration. and, while you are at it, who is BID what do they do and why is the key role played by a heavy political donator who runs a college.
beats me.
Warren do you know……..
Warren, do you know that the mother of a newly elected freshman council member works for the college you reference (Monroe)?
your question
no i really don’t know tim; only knew in the past that Richard St Paul taught a class or two.
This will be a disaster for commerce in New Rochelle.
This will be a disaster for commerce in New Rochelle.
However, this construction was announced many years ago, was to be expected, and is probably necessary.
Expect a lot more traffic on Webster Ave, Centre Ave, Memorial Highway and Division St, and a reduction in persons coming downtown to shop.
There is no one now
Brian your comment about a reduction in persons downtown is way out there.There is no shopping now on North ave from hug st. to main street the city has let this area go. There are no street lights working and most of the stores are gone. 5 anderson street and all the stores there are gone because this Mayor and former and some current council members had a DREAM.Well that dream is dead and so are the streets and business’s down here.The only people down here are beggars and bums.Once that bridge close’s this area is all but doomed it happened when they closed the railroad bridge over north ave and it will happen again.
No Plan Planned
I love the statement on the City Hall website: motorists are advised that delays are probable and alternate routes are recommended. Users of the New Rochelle train station and Intermodal Center in particular should plan accordingly. Also the report that New Rochelle residents were warned by City officials to stay away from the area around the train station during the construction period which begins in earnest around May 15th and is expected to go on for 18 months. Are they kidding!
What is Michael Briska, traffic engineer doing about this? The citizens of New Rochelle should be able to see a map of the alternate routes available to us during this time. But no, as usual, no plan planned. I hate to see the nightmare that will be going on Thursday, Feb. 23.
Where are those 80%ers that voted for this idiot?
This is small potatoes compared to the tragedy about to unfold at city yard. Bramson’s hell bent on moving the city yard for some reason but I don’t really understand why, especially since NR has no money to pay for anything.
Today’s Journal News is reporting today that NR will vote to borrow $600k next week to fiance the design of the new city yard yet they don’t even have a concrete plan for the current city yard.
Where are those 80%ers that voted for this idiot? Don’t any of them care that NR is about to borrow all this money? The loan payments alone will eat NR alive & lets not forget this years budget (like last years) was filled with 1 shot gimmicks that can’t be repeated. I wonder what next year’s tax increase will be? I’m betting around 20% for SFRs. Simply incredible how short sighted he is, but I bet he’s gone long before the sh_t hits the fan.
Rather than give you a link which won’t work in a month or 2 or they’ll want you to pay to see the story, here’s a copy:
NEW ROCHELLE — The City Council inched closer Tuesday night toward relocating its Department of Public Works maintenance yard.
“This is essential infrastructure that is necessary to support the core services we provide to the community,” Mayor Noam Bramson said.
New Rochelle has been talking about moving the facility, known as the city yard, for about a decade.
The current site, on the waterfront and the potential home to the proposed Echo Bay development, has long been in disrepair.
A recent study showed it would be cheaper, by several million dollars, to move the yard to city-owned property on Beechwood Avenue than to renovate the aging facility.
On Tuesday, council members began considering whether to issue bonds for $600,000 to cover the cost of designing the new city yard. They will cast their votes next week.
Councilmen Al Tarantino and Louis Trangucci, the panel’s Republican members, pushed Tuesday night to delay the bonding vote, saying it behooved the city to wait until Forest City Residential, the developer behind the Echo Bay project, presented its latest plans to the council, which is expected in several weeks.
Their motion to table the bonding resolution was voted down.
“The choice is not this or nothing,” Bramson said, outlining his view of the issue.
“The choice is this or more spending” on the current city yard.
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, council members discussed entering into a “memorandum of understating” with the Albanese Corp., developers behind a proposed development in the heart of the city’s downtown neighborhood.
Over four phases, the project would create 550 residential units and at least 13,000 square feet of retail space in three buildings, including a high-rise, and allow the city to replace the outdated parking garage between Church and Division streets.
But several council members expressed concern that the project, especially its first phase, would not meet the neighborhood’s needs.
Councilman Ivar Hyden, a newly-elected Democrat, called it a “bad fit” and a “development at this point I don’t feel strongly for.”
We need more commerce, not residential construction
Increasing New Rochelle’s population by building 550 more residential units, is a poorly thought out idea. Increasing population creates greater demand on expensive public services, infrastructure and public expense with little commerical benefit. This has been proven by the ill-thought construction of Trump and the Avalons
What is needed, actually, is maintaining the current population, while increasing commerce. Business puts no demand on the Board of Education, and less demand on many public services than does increasing population. Commerce improves the tax base.
Massive construction is unnecessary to improve commerce. Massive construction only benefits a few persons who own real estate and profit by selling their property to our city at tax payers’ expense. The same is true of those special interests who own construction and construction supply companies.
What is needed is more commerce. We can greatly increase commerce by filling our existing stores and other commerical property with profitable businesses that pay tax. We do not need massive construction to increase commerce.
The government should not act as a shill for the construction industry. The NR Department of Development should be dismantled. Instead, there should be a Department of Buildings within which should exist a Bureau of Housing with a greater number of inspectors than currently. There should also be a Department of Commerce, within which should exist a small Bureau of Development whose focus should be on infrastructure rather than on increasing our population. But a Department of Commerce’s main focus should be on commerce, not construction.
Such changes would benefit New Rochelle in many ways, with little negative effect.
18 Months, Is that where the betting starts?
If this project finishes in 18 months we will be lucky. NYS Thruway Authority never finishes a project on time. the last utility project, the bridge near the train station, went over schedule by at least 6 months. Best part is our administration will grin and bear it while the citizens will just have to wait it out. Just like the last time!