By Liam Bertheaud
Editor’s note: I pleased to publish this article by a local student and advocate, Liam Bertheaud, which was originally written for The Talon, Onteora High School’s newspaper. I’ve always dreamt that this blog would feature not only my voice, but to be a place where the community can come together and envision a different future together. Thanks for being part of this. -Ella
Update: The town of Olive passed a resolution in July requesting that the Department of Transportation lower the speed limit from 45 to 35 MPH, and requested for an additional crosswalk to be added near the Ashokan Rail Trail. The author and Cynthia Nikitin are creating a petition to request that the town improve the entrances to the Ashokan Rail Trail for pedestrians with more visible and better crosswalks. The petition is not complete, but comment if you would like to be sent a link to the petition when it is ready.
When you rode through Boiceville this morning, whether on your bus ride to school or going to work, you might have noticed construction of the new bridge on Route 28A. The reconstruction of the bridge began this spring and is scheduled to be completed by 2025. While it might just seem like another bridge is being replaced, it is more than that. There could be a sign of great change in Boiceville in this $33 million bridge replacement project.
The project is funded by the NYC Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP), the agency responsible for the roadway and bridge, in collaboration with the NYS Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) to fulfill its goal of supporting our town's local watershed through investing in the town's infrastructure in and around the reservoir. The cost to replace the two bridges crossing the Esopus is a $33 million—more investment than our town has seen in decades. The existing bridge is over a hundred years old and was in a state of disrepair. This shows the need for repair in the town's infastructure. Consideration must be given to roads, bridges, and who we plan our streets for. With this project, Boiceville could become more encompassing to the needs of all its residents.
The project includes a bike lane and a shared-use path along the bridge, as well as a brand-new sidewalk in Boiceville scheduled to be completed sometime in 2023 or 2024. A total of $385,000 of the budget will be going to fund pedestrian improvements in the hamlet of Boiceville, creating an opportunity for the school and the town to build up its community by giving it something to center around. These pedestrian improvements to Boiceville could increase its connectivity with alternative modes of transportation, with attention being paid to make it safer for pedestrians and cyclists. Before Boiceville can become walkable, it has to have the infrastructure to support it.
The bridge project, with its focus on adding a shared-use path and sidewalk, plants the seeds for future gatherings and events. Boiceville can become a destination where people feel safe walking around, and this could attract new businesses from the pedestrian and bike traffic. Boiceville already has amenities such as the entrance to the Rail Trail, the Brunel Sculpture Gardens, Bread Alone, and Provisions, in addition to the floodplain plots bought up by DEP through the flood buyout program that could be open for recreational and environmental purposes, the waterfront on the Esopus, and the school district's main campus. Our hamlet has the potential to be a prospering community.
While this bridge replacement project is a great sign for Boiceville, as it means more investments are being made into its infrastructure, it has issues with its outreach. For instance, no public workshops were scheduled for local residents to give their input on the reconstruction and the pedestrian improvements in Boiceville. If you are going to spend $33 million on a project, you should first ask how it can best serve the people it is to benefit. In order for the DOT to make the most of this project, it has to include the school and local communities in its decision-making. Most of the planned spending has been set in stone. However, it is possible for the project to go out to bid once more for change, but us students and town residents need to request it.
A survey was conducted in February and March of Onteora high school students as an independent research project. The survey’s purpose was to identify students' preferences for engineering and design changes to the streets surrounding the school to make it feel safer and more student-friendly. A secondary goal was to gauge students' interest in the school consideration of a Safe Routes to School Program (SRTS). Almost half of the high school student population, 192 students to be exact, resonded to the survey online. A majority of the students (about 53.7%) wanted to walk around Boiceville but felt that it had to feel safer and more friendly to students. The pedestrian improvements included in the bridge project could help achieve this.
Over 75% of respondents to the survey expressed wanting to see the school advocate for a SRTS program. A Safe Routes to School program is a government action plan that identifies design changes that could be made that make walking and cycling to and around the school safer and more appealing. Five schools in Ulster County have implemented a SRTS Program. With this information and more students voicing their call for action, it could be used to justify future improvements to the street and build upon a SRTS Program.
The survey was brought up because the bridge replacement project has not done its best in reaching out to students. While it might not seem like it, Boiceville is a student town. Most students spend five days a week in the hamlet. A majority of us have grown up in this town, with major transitions from elementary to middle to high school happening here.
Boiceville resides in a school zone, and the school acts as one of the biggest employers for the town of Olive. Students have earned the right to be a part of this town and should be included in its development.
The school administration has met with the project head for the bridge, Kyle Buser, and the NYSDOT about moving the location of the crosswalk outside the school. With future meetings scheduled, communication is being made, which is a great start, but it needs more direct community input. If done to its best, it could ensure the safety of hundreds of students.
The project has to address the issues highlighted in the survey among students. For instance, the unsafe speed of cars, the lack of cyclist paths, the poorly placed and faded crosswalks, as well as the lack of sidewalks that are separated from traffic and the missing signage have contributed to this unsafe feeling around Boiceville. Of those who responded to the survey, 93 students said it feels unsafe because of the lack of a sidewalk. The sidewalk being built will cover the side opposite the school. Unfortunately, addressing these problems, which have plagued the hamlet of Boiceville for more than half a century, is not currently within the scope of this $33 million traffic engineering effort, according to the Project Managers at the NYSDOT.
As the shared use-path project stands, the project is adding a curb ramp and repainting the crosswalk in front of the school, but that is the scope of what is being done to involve the school into our town. The crosswalk in front of the school is located between an active bus lane and the entrance to a gas station. More than 50% of the students who responded agreed that the crosswalk outside the school is poorly placed and maintained.
The crosswalk being repainted will not even meet the Ulster County Transportation Council's own guidelines in its Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Toolbox which suggests that school zone crosswalks be painted with high visibility yellow paint to indicate to drivers that they are within 500 feet of a school zone. To better improve it, the project could allocate three percent of its budget, or $9,500, to have a pedestrian-activated Rapid Flashing Beacon installed, which better warns drivers of pedestrians. NYSDOT has looked at this as a possible option and might grant a permit to have one installed.
If an added effort was made, we could have sidewalks on both sides of the road and more conveniently placed crosswalks, which would give the school more of a connection to the town. An addition that could improve the street outside the school could be adding a bike lane that connects with the bike lane being built on the bridge. Of the students surveyed, 75% said that bike lanes would make it safer for cyclists, and 15% would consider biking to school if it was safer, compared to less than one percent of students who do now. Many students do not have cars but still want to be able to participate in town life.
The bridge replacement project is a huge investment in the hamlet of Boiceville. A community and connection to the town can be created if we have the infrastructure and the will to do it by building a safer, friendlier, and more walkable place for students and residents alike. For the bridge project and DOT planners to do this, they must know this is what we want as a community. While the project was a great first step, the next step needs to be taken.
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I'm so glad to hear that there is a plan in the works to improve the walking and biking infrastructure there in Boiceville. I can attest to the need to slow down and improve local life on that main drag - kids and workers crossing from the school need to be safe. I think it would really help to have a raised cross walk and speed bumps.
Warm regards
Jennie