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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-08-15 Dryden Rail Trail Friends and Task Force Minutes of the Meeting Monday, August 15, 2022 Dryden Town Hall Caldwell Conference Room Attendance: Bob Beck, chairperson; Chris and Diane Tessaglia-Hymes, Susan Ashdown, Todd Bittner, Tony and Janice Bretscher, Rose Borzik, Steve Winans, Alice Green, Dan Lamb, Judy Pierpont Call to order at 7:06 pm – Bob Beck Additions to agenda: Streets Alive Approval of June minutes (July meeting was cancelled). Approved unanimously Game Farm Road crossing update – Dan The challenge of finding an agreeable crossing plan goes back to 2019. Dan has recently taken on this issue because he knew some folks at NYSDOT who could help us get a reduction of the speed limit from 55 to 45 MPH. This action has been confirmed. However, the County Highway Dept now recommends it be changed to 35 MPH. The Towns of Dryden and Ithaca approved of a pro bono consultant’s report and then County Highway asked for another study by a different engineering firm. This cost the Towns $15K, and the County still disputes the recommendations. Now the County’s position is that the crossing should not be opened until the bump in the road north of the crossing is reduced. The County response also stipulates that the Towns can’t put in the markings and signage until road is flattened. It also requires installation of a Hawk light which can cost $150K which is not in the DRT budget. These are normally used only on high volume, multi lane roadways. Dan believes that requiring both the light and the speed reduction to 35 MPH is redundant and expensive overbuild. He suspects that the County was disappointed that the County paid to build an underpass below the Game Farm Rd bridge that proved unusable for the crossing because of ADA requirements and other considerations. This was the first item in the history included in the County response to the Towns’ study proposals. Dan has been speaking with County legislators and our NYS Assemblywoman to help us deal with these unwarranted requirements. Cornell Community Relations has been recruited to help. TF members believe the current unmarked crossing is dangerous with the number of trail users crossing now. It is a highly desired trail connection being used by many people. Dan thinks the county highway wants to cover themselves with lots of mitigation, but they’re opening themselves to extended exposure if they insist on waiting for another year until when they say the road regrading can be done. The mitigations Dryden favors are: rumble strips, advanced warning signs, a pedestrian activated light signal, permanent lighting 24/7, and 35 MPH Advisory signs at the crossing. Dan has called a stake holders meeting that will include Highway Chief Jeff Smith and his engineer; the Town of Dryden and Town of Ithaca Supervisors, Shawna Black, TC Legislature Chair, Greg Mezy, Dryden representative, and Tompkins County Administrator Lisa Holmes. This will probably be after September 2. Todd said the latest study by Barton & Loguidice (B&L) used an outdated traffic count method, according to Reed Heugerich, Cornell Traffic Engineer. He thought a more modern method would show that there is adequate stopping distance from the Game Farm Road bump to the crossing (359 feet stopping distance at 45 MPH). He pointed out that several of the mitigations that Dryden wishes to implement are justified right now because of problems caused by the configuration the parking lot on the Town of Ithaca side of the crossing. Dan said he would like to put all the mitigations in place and then do another speed study. The current free flow speed at Game Farm is 51 MPH. But now County Highway says it will allow no mitigations until the road flattening is done. Dan wondered if the county is insistent on that plan, can it be moved up on the calendar? Has there been any preparation for this work? Alice asked what DRT TF members can do to help. Dan said it would be helpful to find an example of 45-55 MPH road with a trail crossing that has similar sight distances. Is there any other similar crossing that employs such extensive mitigations? Chris asked if a well-worded public petition could up the pressure to resolve the crossing issue. Members reported they regularly hear from constituents who want the crossing opened. Todd suggested a Facebook post that summarizes why we haven’t been able to open the crosswalk. Dan said it might make sense to wait on the petition or Facebook until the results of the September stakeholders meeting are known. Requests to Dryden Highway/DPW – Bob Report on meetings with Highway Superintendent Rick Young to request actions and projects along the trail. Long standing requests include: • Signs with flashing lights at the crossing at Mt. Pleasant Rd • Crossing signs at the crossing on Stevenson Rd. • Adding stone dust at FH Fox bridge to make it smoother for bicyclists. (The wrong size of gravel was installed) • Quarry stone barriers to protect users from the steep slopes next to the Game Farm trestle bridges • Quarry stone barriers along Game Farm Rd to prevent illegal parking near the trail entrance Bob said the flashing lights at Springhouse Rd have been repaired but not moved to Mt. Pleasant. Rick has flashing lights in his shop that he was saving for Game Farm when we get approval, but the group feels the Mt. Pleasant crossing is the most in need of warning signals now. Diane suggested giving DPW a prioritized list to help all get on the same page for safety. Update on broadband rail-bed clearing and fiber laying – Bob, Chris Chris reported that there’s been a lot of clearing from Route 13 east. Not sure if more clearing has happened past Kirk Rd., but he said conduit has been laid to Kirk and all the way to Monkey Run. Conduit has been laid to the washout on the NYSEG parcel near Pinckney Rd. up to the wash out and on the other side. There’s galvanized piping under two “mini-trestles” up to route 366. Crews haven’t done under Route 366 drilling yet. There’s a section immediately west of 366 where there are culverts that have shifted making it high risk for trail use. Not sure whether they will replace the culverts before laying the conduit. Bob said he learned the conduit will go under two properties near Etna Lane that have not yet granted trail easements. Drilling has happened under Etna Lane, but it’s not clear how a washout section will be treated on the way towards Kirk. Dan said he believes the fiber has been laid from Pinckney Rd all the way to the Village of Freeville. He said the Broadband Committee had hoped was that the crews would be dealing with washouts in a way that would be helpful to the trail. Todd asked if there is a way that the Town can steer this towards culvert repair rather than drilling under. Dan said he believed the plan was to do the culvert repair and fill (which would help the trail.) Bob noted that there are sensitive negotiations continuing with three property owners in the area. Diane said she has heard the Town Attorney and Supervisor had been invited to meet on site to talk about issues, and hopes any accommodations to property owners won’t drive up broadband construction costs. Dan said this should be brought up at the Broadband Committee meeting at 10:30 am Friday August 19 on Zoom. Bob and Chris said they will attend. Grant finances update – Todd, Bob Todd distributed a spreadsheet showing approved Dryden Rail Trail Grants by Trail Section. Copy attached. He said when the bridge is bid out, Erdman Anthony, the Town’s TAP grant consultant, will help the DRT to work with this for most effective multiple matches. He estimated the project timetable: land acquisition could be completed by spring 2023, followed by preparation of construction docs, with bridge construction beginning in November 2023. Bob said he hopes for an even faster timeline. Todd noted there will be an upcoming decision point where the Town chooses whether some of the trail work could be done in house or whether to hire one firm to do the whole project. Bob reported that he recently learned from Ray Burger that we need to get an extension on completion of work covered under the $50K County Capital Grant. The original application was submitted online. OPRHP grant update – Bob The State Parks grant. Bob Called Fred Bonn to talk about next steps as Kathleen McIsaac leaves her post as our NYS OPRHP liaison. Bob reminded that we’ve been waiting to sign a contract since December of 2017. Fred said he knew only that Albany is still reviewing our last easement. Bob and Fred also discussed the stipulation that state parks funding can’t cover installations on the roadways. There is a good argument that the flashing lights are actually on the trail. However, Fred advised against raising this issue until DRT gets the grant contract signed. Bob said their last word was that state parks accepted the letter explaining the DEC agreement. However, this was months ago. Todd wondered if prodding from our Assemblywoman might shake up the bureaucracy. She has been helpful on many Town issues during her first year in office. Cornell plan for solar farm sign at trail – Todd Cornell has a virtual trail of sustainable features in the landscape and would like to put a sign on the trail near Stevenson Rd. Todd recalls that CU retained the right to do signage on the trail. Todd wondered how far away from the trail it needed to be to allow for maintenance. Susan and Bob said highway crews mow around signs and benches (in the 2’ shoulder outside of the 10’ trail) all the time. Todd wondered if there was any standard that would guide the DRT in this and other circumstances. It was noted that the DRT needs to know where the broadband lines are when installing signs, benches etc. Sunday Sept 18 Streets Alive Event on Ithaca North Side Alice said the Dryden Rail Trail has once again been invited to participate in this event. Last Spring’s was on Ithaca’s Southside; this Fall it will run from 1-5 pm Sunday, Sept 18 along North Cayuga Street, and extending for the first time up to GIAC on Court St. Alice is unable to attend because of a family wedding and asked if the group wanted to participate. Bob said he has the DRT materials and merchandise. Rose and Susan and Bob volunteered to staff the table. September meeting scheduled for: 7 pm September 19 at the Caldwell Conference Room in Town Hall. Adjournment at 8:37 pm. Respectfully submitted by Alice Walsh Green Approved Dryden Rail Trail Grants by Trail Section for Use Section NYS Parks County Capital Tourism Cornell Triad NY TAP Multi- modal Federal Highway TOTAL Game Farm-Stevenson X Stevenson-Mt. Pleasant X Mt. Pleasant-Monkey Run Road X Monkey Run Road-Rt. 13 X X X X Rt. 13 Bridge X X X X X X Rt. 13-Hall Woods X X Hall Woods-Pickney Amount $364,000 $50,000 $10,000 $15,000 $1,476,540 $500,000 $700,000 $3,115,540 Grantor funds $182,000 $50,000 $10,000 $15,000 $1,476,540 $500,000 $700,000 $2,933,540 Local match funds $182,000 $369,135 $175,000 $726,135