The State DOT revealed its final design for the N-S Arterial remake last night at a meeting of the ArtsWest Alliance. . . .
It is going to be even worse than expected for West Utica!
While the bridge over Court St. and cut offs of Sunset Avenue and Warren Street are bad enough, the big surprise and disappointment was that the current single bridge over Oriskany Blvd., Lafayette and Columbia Streets will be replaced by separate bridges . . . with retaining walls holding up the Arterial in-between.
People have somewhat adapted to the current viaduct overhead. There is plenty of room under the viaduct for light, air and people to pass through, and people are using the space as covered parking. But having the openness replaced with a stone wall . . . even one designed to look like it was built of stone blocks from the Chenango Canal . . . will further detract from and distinctly divide the neighborhood.
Another disappointment is that the northern intersection of Lincoln Ave with Court Street will be eliminated. Lincoln will end at Roberts Street. This seems to negate the one good thing that is being proposed: an extension of the dead end of Lincoln Ave to a new intersection with Burrstone Road -- restoring an old access point.
What drivers gain in greater speeds on the arterial, they lose in having to go out of their way to get on the Arterial -- or to go across the Arterial.
Interestingly, state officials were unable to estimate the maximum distance someone would have to detour to drive from one side of the Arterial to the other given the proposed street closures. Nor were they able to estimate the additional time such a detour would take. Ease of access is a major consideration in locating a business. It should be clear from looking at a map that large areas of West Utica will become backwaters because they will be harder to get to and through.
State officials were also unable to estimate the loss in tax revenue to the City of Utica and the Utica City School District from the large number of property takings. How is the city expected to make up the revenue? They dismissed the question by noting that the City now owns many parcels. No one thinks how many parcels have fallen into city ownership because of the uncertainty of what the Arterial remake would create.
As disappointing as the state's presentation was, the seeming acceptance by local elected officials and community activists was even more so. They know what this project will do to West Utica because they have expressed their concerns in the past. They have the biggest stake in this issue and are looked upon to provide leadership.
They need to do so now. An alternative to this project MUST be found. Otherwise it will be the undoing of West Utica.
6 comments:
JUst wall off West Utica and be done with it. We won't even miss it. Nothing worth seeing or going to over there. Just another wasteland thanks to and brought to you by NYS. Its just central NY--- who cares the state of NY stops at Albany.
Let's all lighten up , the state of NY will surely give Utica something to be proud of.Just look at the old psych center as an example . Think of all the prisions that they have "given" to the area.
Our utica political leaders after all will only too willingly take any crumbs that the state throws our way. It does't matter what it does to our once proud city , after all this is Utica where anything goes.
Look for the public hearings in July -- that will be the last time to express outrage at this plan. Ironically, the mess that was made fifty plus years ago because of short-sightedness is going to be exacerbated with another short-sighted mess that doesn't reflect most current thinking or practical reality.
One is tempted to share the opinion of anonymous. West Utica was seriously harmed by several factors quite soemtime ago. One of these was the original arterial design. Other factors coinciding with the demographic and cultural decline of the city have contributed over the years. There are nuggets of hope, one being the Institute area, but one wonders if spending a lot of money on this arterial up-grade is wise or necessary. Given what Strike has observed of the plan, it looks like yet another DOT dog.
Local officials are going along because they are clueless & have no idea what urban planning is all about. As an example they want to tear down the HSBC building to make a parking lot. It's no wonder that Roefaro & the rest of them will bow to the D.O.T. & allow this fiasco to be built.
West Utica is on life support now this new plan will ensure the death and burial of half of the city. It's time for our city to tell NYS that we've had enough of their "improvements". It's time for our city leaders to wake up and see what is happening.When will they realize that" good enough for Utica" is is the road to ultimate distruction of the city.
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