August 1, 2008
Marian Williams
Widening the bridge will not completely solve the problem of the difficult left turn into town at the triangle.
But the extra lane will allow more of the cars that are turning right to bypass the line of cars turning left. This should help to alleviate the long Quaker Road back-ups that sometimes exist as far north as Commodore Road. It will be especially important for morning rush-hour commuters. That it will be wider than the bridge to Somers is irrelevant.
Replacing the 80-year-old bridge, never meant to handle the volume and weight of the traffic that now exist, is a matter of safety. The bridge has been declared structurally deficient, and will be re-built according to current New York State Department of Transportation standards. It is a state bridge, and Route 120 is a state road.
Added to the improvements on the bridge itself will be a new right-hand turning lane from the west end of the bridge to Hunts Place. It will allow west-bound school buses to turn without having to go all the way to Roaring Brook School and turning around as they must do now. This too will alleviate the Quaker Road back-ups.
As for the trees that will be lost – many of these are sickly or junk trees like the shallow-rooted Norway maples. New landscaping will be an improvement.
No one is underestimating the short-term nuisance of work on the bridge, but the town and the DOT are trying their best to minimize the inconvenience. In the long run, the bridge will be much better. Similar arguments were made about losing the small-town “feel” of Chappaqua when the traffic light was put in at the Douglas Road/Quaker Road intersection. It is hard to imagine the chaos now if the nay-sayers had won that argument.
Marian Williams
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