The first phase of project decades in the planning to widen and reconstruct Glenridge Road is scheduled to begin next month.
State officials hope to award the contract in the next few weeks, according to Department of Transportation spokeswoman Carol Breen. The low bidder had a price tag of $11.7 million, but the exact cost won’t be known until the contract is awarded.
A one-mile section of the road from Maple Avenue to Route 146 will be widened to create 11-foot travel lanes and 6-foot shoulders. Right now, the shoulder ranges from about 4 feet to virtually nothing, according to Breen. Also, the underpasses of the two railroad bridges will be widened to better accommodate traffic flow. Currently one of those underpasses is so narrow that cars can only travel in one direction, which is controlled by a traffic light. The project also includes building a roundabout at the intersection of Glenridge Road and Maple Avenue.
“It’s going to be a three-year project so we’ll finish up in the fall of 2013,” Breen said.
The first phase will require relocating utilities to accommodate the widened road. Also, crews will work on the embankment and bridges over the railroad, raising their height a few inches to improve the grade of the road. The roadway will be flatten somewhat so there is not such a large dip, according to Breen. The curve of the road between the bridges would be straightened.
There will be periodic lane closures as needed, Breen said, but traffic flow will be maintained for the most part. Glenridge Road from Bruce Drive to Blue Barns Road will have to be shut down for a one-week period sometime this construction season to relocate a gas line.
Traffic will be diverted from Route 146 to Alplaus Avenue to Maple Avenue and then back to Route 146 and Glenridge Road.
In 2012, crews will do some structural work on the railroad bridges and improve the drainage of the road.
The following year, the major project is constructing the roundabout at the intersection of Glenridge Road and Maple Avenue, which can become a bottleneck during rush hour. State officials have said that it is needed because traffic volume on Glenridge Road is expected to increase by 1,500 vehicles per day to 12,500 by 2020 and the roundabout can process traffic more efficiently.
“We just think it’s going to improve the traffic flow,” Breen said.
The work will require Glenridge Road to be closed for almost the whole summer starting from the end of the school year to the beginning of September, according to Breen.
“They have to be back open by the time that school opens up,” she said.
Traffic will be diverted again to Alplaus Road.
Glenville Supervisor Chris Koetzle said he is glad the project is about to begin after having been discussed for 37 years.
“We’re very excited that when it’s all said and done the bridge will allow two lanes of traffic to pass under it,” he said.
Even with the reconstruction, large trucks still will not be able to travel under the bridges. One concern of residents was that an expanded road would cause more trucks to use it as a cut through.
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