No two ways about it: bridge construction will be a challenge

July 18, 2008
by Christine Yeres

At the invitation of the town board, 25 downtown Chappaqua merchants assembled Tuesday night at the community center to hear details about the two-year Route 120 bridge construction. Foremost in the merchants’ collective minds was the obvious question: how will this affect our businesses? Supervisor Barbara Gerrard had her work cut out for her in attempting to allay the concerns of jittery merchants.

She started her remarks with the good news: the imminent redo of Citibank’s parking lot and the recently completed sidewalk repair work and curb cuts. She presented a recap of all the efforts of the town board and the downtown steering committee to spruce up the hamlet by next year, while the bridge construction occurs, with new lighting, plantings, crosswalks and sidewalk repairs.

“Our message in all this,” Gerrard assured the merchants, “is that we are open – for – business. When you do well, we do well.” In the near term, she said, the town government is focused on making Chappaqua’s “Sidewalk Sales Days” next week a success, culminating in a “Family Fun Day” on Saturday that will include games, music, food and an ice cream truck. “New Castle is all about raising children, and if it’s a draw to children, they’ll bring their parents,” she suggested.

Gerrard concluded her remarks with a brief background on the bridge, which served 6800 residents when it was built in the 1930’s. Today, 17,800 residents use it as one of only two major train track crossings within New Castle. The other is located to the north at the grade crossing at Roaring Brook Road. With an enlarged photo of the rusted underside of the bridge as background, Gerrard introduced Joan Dupont, regional head of the New York State Department of Transportation, who offered a reprise of her June 24 public presentation to the town board and residents.

Traffic over bridge will be two ways 99 percent of the time

To justify the addition of the third lane, Dupont declared it “not economically feasible” to build a two-lane bridge one half at a time. In anticipation of complaints that the proposed three-lane bridge is uncharacteristically wide for the small hamlet, she told the merchants, “we could have had a narrower bridge if we had a stop light and one way traffic during construction. But our promise to the town was ‘two way traffic at all times.’ As the plan stands, there will be one-way traffic for only minutes at a time, and then maybe not again for weeks.” During those minutes deliveries will be made. She described the work as one of “incredible logistics,” with the contractor expected to demolish the existing structure, make new abutments, bring in steel and pour concrete, working from staging areas on either side, all the while doing as little up on top of the bridge as possible. “You won’t find your bridge closed with no one working there,” she promised.

Emergency services forewarned, bus traffic reduced

Town Administrator Jerry Faiella detailed to the anxious group the actions the town is pressing to accomplish before the bridge project begins, including encouraging residents to sign up for e-alerts, having the Chappaqua and Millwood fire departments coordinate responses to emergencies and positioning one ambulance on the west side of town. “We will encourage the contractors to do Hunts Lane first and create the slip lane,” explained Faiella. The slip lane will be a right turn only lane from the bridge onto Hunts Lane that will replace the hairpin turn currently there when the large boulder is pushed back and the trees are removed.

Gerrard encourages merchants to see past challenges to opportunities

“Gas guzzlers are losing their appeal and people are more likely to eat, shop and relax locally,” suggested Gerrard. “We recognize that it will be a challenging two years.” She noted that some shopkeepers may see new business from bridge workers and professionals on the project.

Greeley Home & Hardware owner Gina Gore immediately asked Dupont, the department of transportation representative, whether her hardware store could bid on hardware, lights and paint for the project. “If the town is buying lighting and paint, maybe I can get the business,” she suggested. Dupont was non-committal.

Shop owner fears lost business

“I own Marmalade and this project will kill this holiday and next. It’s of zero benefit to us,” said Cindy Lupica. “Will the board check on our profit and loss sheets at your monthly meetings?” She told Gerrard, Faiella and Dupont, “We put tons of effort into our work and I don’t feel that the town understands our needs. This project will push business into Mt. Kisco and White Plains. Right now it’s prime shopping for people whose kids are young and it’s easy for them to stay here in town. This project will make it seem easier to them to go to White Plains.”

Gerrard replied, “The original project was one way [at a time], which would have restricted traffic far more. A great deal of thought has gone into this design and, when complete, this bridge will win awards.” Lupica responded, “The most beautiful bridge in the world won’t help us to survive the next 24 months.” She told the supervisor that Con Ed workers set up to repair a gas leak that very day; workers directed traffic around the spot, which had sent her foot traffic from the usual 25 customers down to five.

Suggestions proposed: alternate routes, more police, night work

Joan Corwin, the owner of Chappaqua Bus Company, which runs buses in and out of Hunts Lane all day long, said she would look for different routes for her buses. She suggested that shop owners follow suit and advise their customers to cross to the east side of town at Readers’ Digest (Roaring Brook Road) or reach them by other routes.

Barry Mishkin, owner of Family Britches, asked whether the police department and the department of transportation would find funds to hire additional personnel and reassure the merchants that they are committed to moving traffic through town in the most efficient way possible. Police Chief Jim Baynes, standing at the back of the room, answered that the police department will try to keep the traffic flowing and help emergency medical services to a clear path.

Dupont had described the parameters that bind the contractor when it comes to Metro North and its requirement that work on the bridge directly over the tracks take place only during certain night hours, from 2:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Susan Beirne of Emmary Spa brightened and asked, “How much can be done at night? Construction and banging are not good for a spa.” Marmalade’s owner Lupica added, “Why not do all the work at night?”

To Dupont’s response that bridge construction would take much longer if workers were limited to night time, Manny Areces, a resident who opposes the bridge construction, rose to say, “Merchants are important too, not just Metro North.” Dupont answered, “I’m not accommodating Metro North; I don’t want any workers to die. It’s not as safe working in the dark. We bring in the big lights and then people complain about light pollution.”

Gerrard acknowledges difficulties

“I hear what you’re saying,” Town Supervisor Gerrard told merchants, “but there’s not any alternative to replacing the bridge.” She listed ways in which the town will try to notify merchants and residents of anticipated inconveniences: sending out the work schedule to merchants and residents a couple of weeks in advance through e-alerts and through a new town website to be unveiled in September. Board Member Michael Wolfensohn reiterated the board’s intention to remain heavy on notification.

A merchant asked whether the department of transportation and its contractors could limit closings to a particular day of the week, but Dupont told the group that the agency was already “going above and beyond” its responsibilities by attempting each week to predict the following week’s schedule of closings.

Was there a traffic study done of the area affected by the bridge project?

Areces, responding to the suggestion that an alternate route to the east side of town could happen by way of Roaring Brook Road, noted that traffic at that crossing will be increased anyway since the town board recently approved the use of 140 parking spaces at Readers’ Digest for Northern Westchester Hospital during their three-year renovation of their emergency department. Supervisor Gerrard answered, “Those [hospital personnel] cars will be going from the Saw Mill River Parkway directly into Readers’ Digest, with shuttle buses holding 35 passengers each going in and out of the property.”

Areces inquired as to whether anyone had studied the traffic impacts of the new bridge on North and South Greeley Avenue and Woodburn Avenue, the road leading into the train station. Dupont responded, “I believe there is.” Tom Kasulka, another resident opposed to the new bridge construction, asked her, “Could you check and see if there are formal studies?” She promised, “Yes, I will.”

Town Board Member Michael Wolfensohn remains hopeful

As the meeting broke up, Town Board Member Michael Wolfensohn stayed to talk with the merchants. He said he believed that people finally understood that the closings for deliveries of supplies would probably amount to no more than one percent of the time, and that those times would never fall within rush hours.

“I think it went as well as could be expected,” Wolfensohn said of the meeting, “and the merchants have every right to be concerned about the possible traffic issues. But it’s important to remember that when we built the sidewalk along Route 120 there were closures to one lane and no one felt that or even remembers it.” Does he “shop local?” “Sure. I buy local whenever I can. I’ll keep coming into town and I hope everyone else will too.”