Burden off municipalities that want speed changes
ESOPUS, N.Y. >> Town officials are relieved to learn the state Department of Transportation has ended a policy that required municipalities to provide traffic and development data with requests for speed limit changes. Esopus Supervisor Shannon Harris said at a recent Town Board meeting that the state is compiling such data instead, which will lengthen the process but eliminate municipal engineering costs.
“It seems they used our town to roll out a new policy,” Harris said. “We didn’t very much appreciate that [former] policy because it threw the burden back on us to conduct transportation studies, and we just can’t afford to do that.”
Esopus is looking into the possibility of speed limit changes on some sections of U.S. Route 9W, a busy north-south corridor in the town.
Information that municipalities previously were required to provide included the amount and type development along any road in question, features and the physical condition of the road, one or more speed studies, and a report with recommendations from a professional engineer.
Harris, in challenging the old rules, said the state Department of Transportation (DOT) was exceeding its authority and requiring municipalities to take actions that are not required under New York law.
“Imposing DOT procedures on the municipality is beyond the mandate of the law, creates a financial burden on taxpayers and interferes with local government’s duty to protect the safety of its residents,” she wrote in a letter to state officials.
Harris said she received a response earlier this month that the policy had been changed, but the DOT “couldn’t guarantee a speedy response to our [speed limit] requests because they are understaffed.”
“But at least it doesn’t suspend forever our requests,” she said. “It’s still in their hands to deal with.”
Harris said, though, that the DOT has not been supportive of some speed limit requests from towns.
“The town of Rosendale’s request to lower the speed limit in its business district and install a pedestrian crosswalk ... was rejected and resulted in a untenable and impractical proposal to reroute foot traffic,” she wrote.
The city of Kingston is looking into the possibility of speed limits being lowered from 30 to 25 mph in some locations, but the Common Council has yet to vote on whether to seek the required state permission.