Saw Mill Parkway Project, Detours Set to Begin This Week
Pleasantville residents can expect to see an upswing in traffic through the village’s streets next week during the evening as a major Department of Transportation (DOT) project begins on the Saw Mill Parkway.
The project calls for closures and detours this spring and summer as parts of the roadway will be replaced to help alleviate flooding.
“We’re happy about that,” said Village Administrator Patricia Dwyer. “We’re just not happy about the impact on the village. But we certainly like to see the (infrastructure) investments made here.”
Residents have been notified of the project by mail and an informational forum was held by the village on March 7 that was recorded and can be viewed on demand at www.PCTV76.org.
The first phase of the project begins the week of Apr. 3 and is scheduled to run until July 1. The work will take place overnight from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., forcing closure of the parkway between Marble Avenue and Grant Street in both directions.
Starting at about 9 p.m. each night, southbound traffic will be corralled into one lane and forced to make a left turn off the parkway onto Grant Street. Drivers will follow the detour to the parkway’s Marble Avenue entrance to continue southbound.
Northbound drivers will be forced to exit at Marble Avenue and re-enter the parkway at Grant Street. The traffic light cycle will be synchronized on the detour route to reduce congestion. Meanwhile, Depew Street will be closed to through traffic to avoid having motorists try and circumvent the detour.
A more intense summer phase will see the southbound lanes closed completely for about 21 days while the northbound lanes will be split at Marble Avenue to allow traffic to proceed in both directions. This phase will start no earlier than July 10 and must end by Aug. 26. Village officials anticipate the work to begin July 11.
Dwyer said that additional DOT work along the parkway is also ramping up in nearby municipalities, including Ardsley and Mount Kisco, and advised motorists to prepare for additional traffic and detours elsewhere on the parkway.
The Grant Street intersection will be closed to pedestrian traffic during the parkway detours. When the 24-hour work begins in the summer, that walkway will be closed around the clock until the work is completed. Residents who use the walkway on a regular basis will have to cross the parkway on Pleasantville Road.
Losing access to Grant Street for a few months will have an eventual upside: ECCO III Enterprises, Inc., the contractor overseeing the project, will be renovating the road on the western side of the parkway to make the street safer. The location has been the site of numerous accidents in recent years. The company will be straightening the road and adding a sidewalk and better access for pedestrians at the signal.
Residents may have also noticed that crews have been working on a sewer relocation project on Pleasantville and Manville roads in advance of that project. A sewer line is being moved that runs under one of the bridge decks. That will be completed before the parkway work begins, Dwyer said.
William Cromeek of ECCO III Enterprises said his workers would do what they could to reduce noise and high-powered work lights. Lights will be pointed downward in hopes of avoiding them shine directly into residents’ windows.
Cromeek said the roughly 25 construction workers will park in legal parking locations on the roads surrounding the parkway, and would carpool when possible to bring fewer vehicles to the vicinity of the site.
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