In response to the community”™s concerns about parking for the approximately 3-mile path, the Thruway Authority in 2014 collected data from 10 similar bridge and park facilities, including the Rip Van Winkle Bridge in Catskill, Westchester RiverWalk in Tarrytown and Rockland Lake State Park in Congers, to better estimate how many pedestrians and bicyclists will use the new bridge. The study concluded Rockland County needs 54 parking spaces. Westchester”™s 97 spaces can be accommodated on the site of the former state police barracks in Tarrytown, according to the report.
The Westchester parking project would include construction of a Thruway maintenance facility and a bridge visitors center fronting South Broadway at a cost of $1.5 million.
Sleepy Hollow resident Daniel Convissor at a March 15 public hearing in Sleepy Hollow said the path should be open 24/7 and cited safety as a major concern on the Westchester side.
“A signalized crosswalk with a median refuge area is necessary at the intersection of Route 9 and the shared use path,” Convissor told executive project engineer Jamey Barbas and Daniel D”™Angelo, deputy chief engineer with the state Department of Transportation. “The environmental assessment explicitly says no changes will be made here. That opinion is dangerously mistaken.”
Convissor said it would be dangerous for cyclists exiting the shared use path to turn left onto Route 9 and similarly for cyclists riding north on Route 9 who wish to turn left towards the path.
He said it will generate notable economic activity for the county, attracting cyclists from Orange, Rockland, Putnam and Dutchess counties. “We”™ll see loads of cyclists who now ride up 9W on the west side of the river now swing across the bridge to Tarrytown to the train and/or back down this side,” he said.
David Hodgson of Sleepy Hollow, who said he often uses the bridge, also was concerned about the Route 9 crossing. “I have an 11-year-old that likes to ride with me, and this is a chaotic situation,” he said.
Hodgson was one of several cyclists who want the path to open early in the morning and to remain open late at night.
David Patel of Tarrytown expressed surprise that the state didn”™t include the other side of the Routes 119 and 9 intersection, which includes a Tarrytown shopping plaza across the street from the planned parking area.
While Westchester Cycle Club director Mark Garrahan said some bicylists will drive to the parking area for the six-mile round trip across the new bridge, another cyclist said neither the amount of parking spots nor their location in relation to the path is a concern for members.
“It looks like a lot of cement,” Leanne Bloom said of the proposed Thruway maintenance facility near where the shared use path would start. “Forbes called Tarrytown one of the 10 prettiest towns in America,” she said. “That doesn”™t belong at the gateway of our beautiful town.”
Bloom said the bridge project “could have been an opportunity to create another Main Street. It (the building design) certainly doesn”™t honor our heritage,” she said, mentioning historic names and properties. “It makes me sad.”
Tarrytown Village Administrator Michael Blau anticipated the path will increase pedestrian and bike traffic. “It is our hope that people who park at the shared use path will want to visit the downtown and other stores and restaurants throughout the village,” he said.
Across the bridge in South Nyack, planners have proposed two options, both of which have the shared use path and the Esposito Trail meeting. One plan would close the east/southbound Thruway entrance near Cornelison Avenue and South Broadway in South Nyack while moving the parking lot closer to the path and bridge. That plan would cost $14.5 million to complete, while the other option would cost $10.8 million, according to state officials. South Nyack village trustees and a village task force have approved the more costly plan.
The Thruway Authority agreed last year to move the path”™s terminus away from the Cornelison Avenue Thruway entrance after residents protested it would disrupt their quiet neighborhood. South Nyack”™s current daily traffic amounts to about 12,500 cars in a village of 3,500 residents.
South Nyack received a $250,000 grant through the bridge project”™s community benefits program to study the feasibility of redesigning and redeveloping Thruway Interchange 10. Consultants from Willdan Financial Services and Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc. in February presented results of their feasibility study for that land.
The public comment period for the bridge parking options remains open until 5 p.m. April 1. Comments can be sent by email to info@newnybridge.com. All comments will be reviewed and responded to during the next few months.
After the deadline, the Federal Highway Administration, the Thruway Authority and the state Department of Transportation will review comments in the state”™s environmental assessment of the project and those submitted during the public comment period. They are expected to choose a preferred alternative this summer.
