Safe Routes project to start in April
Decision yet to be made on making street near Forsyth Park one-way
A project to make it safer for children walk to school in Kingston will begin early next month, though it remains unclear whether Burhans Boulevard, off Lucas Avenue, will be made a oneway street.
City Engineer Ralph Swenson told the Common Council’s Finance and Audit Committee this week that the Safe Routes to Schools initiative will begin in early April with the construction of foundations for new signal lights at Washington and Lucas avenues in Uptown Kingston. He said the poles for the signals will be delivered in early May.
Swenson also said Kingston Mayor Steve Noble met with residents of the Burhans Boulevard area on Monday to talk about the pros and cons of plans for the road.
“Our preference is to make it one-way,” Swenson told the committee, but he said the mayor will make the final decision.
On Friday, Noble said he and Alderwoman Lynn Eckert, D-Ward 1, met with about a dozen residents of the neighborhood. He said it was an opportunity for him to describe the overall project and the city’s proposal to build a sidewalk along Burhans Boulevard.
Noble said he believes Eckert will take what she heard and share it with the members of the council’s Public Safety/General Government Committee when it meets Wednesday evening.
The committee will consider whether to make Burhans a one-way street to accommodate the project as it was designed and was approved by the state Department of Transportation, Noble said. Burhans Boulevard is a short street that connects Lucas and Alcazar avenues at the southwestern end of Forsyth Park. It is in Eckert’s ward.
“My takeaway from the meeting was that some residents were concerned about how the traffic pattern would impact their lives,” Noble said in an email. “However, after discussing the project further with them, I got the sense that they realized that the project would have a negligible impact on the residents but would ultimately improve the look and feel of the area, with the benefits far outweighing the changes in traffic pattern.”
The Safe Routes to Schools project will include the installation of new sidewalks
on and near Burhans Boulevard, which is near Harry L. Edson Elementary School and J. Watson Bailey Middle School.
A concrete sidewalk on Burhans is to run 300 feet from Lucas Avenue to Alcazar Avenue. There also is to be a 600-foot asphalt walkway connecting Alcazar to Merilina Avenue along the edge of Forsyth Park.
The two pedestrian strips, both of which will be illuminated, are intended to provide a safe, off-road walking route from Lucas Avenue to Edson and Bailey schools.
Pedestrian improvements
also are to be made on Hurley Avenue and Joy’s Lane, near Edson and Bailey, as well as in the areas of George Washington and John F. Kennedy elementary schools.
The $650,000 contract for the entire Safe Routes project was awarded to Sun-Up Enterprises Inc. of Wappingers Falls. Most of the cost is being covered by federal aid funneled through the state Department of Transportation.
The project also will include pedestrian signals at Washington Avenue’s intersections with Lucas Avenue,
Main Street, Pearl Street and Linderman Avenue; a “traffic-calming hump” on Joy’s Lane; curb cuts at all four corners at Murray Street and Delaware Avenue, as well as on Gross Street, near Kennedy school; improvements to the pedestrian signal at the Murray-Delaware intersection; a crosswalk at the intersection of Quarry Street and Hurley Avenue near Bailey; and crosswalk improvements at Wall and Franklin streets and at Fair and Henry streets near George Washington Elementary School.