Town gets $5.8M for work
Pedestrian safety eyed on Route 4
NORTH GREENBUSH, N.Y. » The state and federal governments recently awarded the town an additional $5.88 million in grant funding for traffic and pedestrian safety improvements along the Route 4 corridor.
Last year, the town was awarded a grant of $3.1 million for intersection safety improvements at Route 4 and Bloomingrove Drive and pedestrian and bicycle improvements along the busy state highway.
Town Supervisor Lou Desso said he was pleased to receive more grant funding for these improvements. He said that the grant will be used to redesign the entrance into the town from Troy, at the Route 4 and Williams Road intersection and points south of that intersection.
The town has now received almost $9 million in funding for the Route 4 improvements since Desso took office.
“Attempts at addressing traffic and safety issues on Route 4 in the town of North Greenbush have been discussed since the 1980s and I am proud that our calls for financial support of the critical improvements along this route have been recognized with these awards of grant funding,” said Desso.
Desso said that in the early 2000s, the state Department of Transportation, through Rensselaer County, began to initiate project development and environmental studies for a new highway connecting the I-90 connector with Williams Road near Hudson Valley Community College. Desso said the project progression “stalled” when cost estimates for the roadway’s completion began to approach $75 million.
In 2012, North Greenbush initiated a campaign to consider alternatives in order to effectively use the remaining federal appropriations.
The town received funding through the state Department of Transportation from the Consolidated Appropriations Act to cover 80 percent of the project costs. Including the town share, the budget for this project is $9.829 million to improve traffic and pe-
destrian safety along the Route 4 corridor at the intersections of Bloomingrove Drive, Valley View Blvd., Winter Street Extension and Williams/Glenmore Road, as well as and points between these intersections. Construction for all Route 4 work is expected to begin in 2019.
“I have remained committed to secure funding to improve the Route 4 Corridor to allow for safer passage of vehicles and pedestrians and I’m extremely pleased with the efforts of New York State to secure the additional $5.88 million grant,” said Desso.
Desso added that “‘ with the new development completed and still underway along Route 4 and throughout the town, the timing for these road improvement projects could not be better.”
Interested individuals may obtain project information, or submit comments, by visiting the project website, Route4CorridorNG.com, or by writing to: Tony Germano, Town Comptroller, 2 Douglas Street, Wynantskill, NY 12198 or by email to agermano@northgreenbush.org.