Gipson, Katz Call for Overpass at Pudding Street and Taconic Parkway
Citing the “health and safety of our children” while riding the school bus that crosses the Taconic Parkway at Pudding Street, State Senator Terry Gipson announced on Thursday that he is looking to work along with Assemblyman Steve Katz in a bipartisan effort to “correct this dangerous problem.”
Gipson, joined by Assemblyman Steve Katz, Putnam Valley Town Supervisor Bob Tendy, School Superintendent Dr. Barbara Nuzzi, Putnam Valley Highway Superintendent Larry Cobb and Putnam County Sherriff’s Representative A. Gerald Schramek, issued a statement calling for the “New York Department of Transportation to fulfill a commitment first given to the people of Putnam Valley back in 2003 to make this dangerous intersection safe.”
Stating that this was one of those occasions where a problem is serious enough to warrant a bipartisan effort of people who care about the community, Assemblyman Steve Katz noted that the residents of Roaring Brook have sought to get an overpass at the intersection for ten years.
“It’s been kicked down the road, now, for ten years. And now, instead of having it done in 2013 as promised, they’re kicking it down to 2017. This is unacceptable.” Katz declared, adding that he and Senator Gipson meant to “Make this right!”
“Everyone in the State agrees that the overpass has to be built, the problem is that no one has built it!” claimed Supervisor Tendy.
School Superintendent Dr. Barbara Nuzzi told the audience, “What keeps me up at night is the safety of our children, and this has to happen.” She explained that in the wake of the Newtown tragedy, the school district was implementing safety measures in the buildings, but felt that the possibility of an accident at the intersection was a more “immediate danger” and “could happen at any point in time.”
Other residents spoke about the many accidents at the crossing and expressed concerns about whether they would have the same ingress and egress that they have now to both sides of the parkway. Tendy explained that as Roaring Brook has a Class C, high hazard dam, the entrance and exit cannot be closed off, and assured residents that they would not lose accessibility.
Ronald Cummings, a member of the Putnam County Traffic Safety Board who has been working on this problem for over ten years said that the project would usually take between three and five years to receive all the approvals and get started. “But, they have a ‘shovel-ready’ plan,” he stated, and if everything went smoothly and no changes were made, the timeline could be considerably shorter.
Gipson promised to have his office give quarterly progress updates to the town.
By Barbara O’Hare
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.
