The Jogging Jeweler

|Route 9 Re-Cap|

Last week two meetings regarding Route 9 took place, one on Thursday evening in Hastings, and another Saturday afternoon in Tarrytown, I attended the Thursday meeting. Thursday's meeting was very well attended, 75-100 members of the affected communities in Tarrytown, Irvington, Dobbs Ferry, and Hastings came together to question, comment, brainstorm, and voice their concerns over changes that need to be made to Route 9 to handle the influx of vehicles, pedestrians, as well as cyclists that will come with the completion of the New Bridge (the replacement for the Tappan Zee). 

To bring the discussion to everyone's fingertips, The Jogging Jeweler has created another survey using some of the same questions posed at the Route 9 meetings. Included in the survey are other questions to help expand on the knowledge base of how these choices would impact all of us. The survey is located at the bottom of this blog. 

Video, photos, and an overview of each below from Thursday are posted below. 

 1. This photo demonstrates commute flows, zero vehicle household locations, pedestrian focus, & transit focus. Key takeaways from this board: 

• Rt 9 needs to be balanced to ensure safe, convenient connections for commuters, students, employees, and visitors that are driving, walking, biking, or on transit
• 1/3 of commute trips = driving
• 22% = walking
• 7 buses, none service Rt 9 in its entirety
• Some bus stops are at the curb w/o sidewalks or crosswalks to access them

 2. This photo demonstrates the focus area, vehicle speeds, field of vision at different speeds, and street design. Key take-aways from this board include:

• 25,000 vehicles/day
• 750 crashes registered along Rt 9 in past 5 years, hundreds of injuries - 1 severe, 1 fatal.
• The areas with higher levels of traffic appear to have more on-street parking as well as speed limits of 30 mph - which when considering the field of vision & fatality rate (50% at 30 mph), it does not look hopeful for pedestrians crossing Rt 9 in the Dobbs Ferry & Tarrytown areas

 3. This photo demonstrates the preferences for each scenario by those who were in attendance. These questions are posed in the survey posted at the bottom of this blog. The results of the survey will be passed along to Nelson/Nygaard. Key take-aways from this board include:

• Walking/pedestrian safety is strongly preferred
• Public transportation is preferred
• On-street (Rt 9-19 votes) VS Trails (OCA-14 votes)

 4. This photo demonstrates areas of concerning conditions as well as comments regarding  locations. Key take-aways from this board include:

• OCA Crossing in Dobbs Ferry
• 5 Corners in Hastings
• Student usage
• Connections at the Riverwalk with the OCA
• Speeds & lanes

 5. This photo demonstrates the comments the from the above board, hopefully more readable. Comments summarized below:

• Enforcement - Both Irvington & Dobbs Ferry have stepped up their efforts to in enforcement. Hoping to write a blog soon regarding the increase in their efforts, stats, etc. 
• Lanes - reducing multi-lane areas of Rt 9 to single lane
• 5 Corners HOH - accidents, OCA, students
• Irvington students at Heritage Hill
• No sidewalks in HOH Tompkins to High St
• OCA - crossings in DF dangerous

 6. This photo demonstrates the comments from the Route 9 map, hopefully more readable. Comments summarized below:

• Riverwalk connection to OCA
• 5 Corner HOH - unsafe
• Lane changes & parked cars
• Riverwalk
• Speeding at 2 lane portions of Rt 9
• Lack of bicycle parking
• OCA access

 7. This photo demonstrates freely written comments from the Route 9 meeting attendees. Comments summarized below:

• OCA Connections
• Roundabout at 5 corners in HOH
• Sidewalks in HOH Tompkins to Olinda
• Blind spots along curves of Rt 9 for pedestrians & drivers

  8. This photo demonstrates freely written comments from the Route 9 meeting attendees. Comments summarized below:

• Gateway in DF appreciation of "barn dance" (all traffic stops, all pedestrians go)
• Irv Rt 9 - speed, OCA, 
• Irv Rt 9 - sidewalks

If you did not attend the meeting and care enough to have read this far, please consider taking the survey!