Ithaca, N.Y. — It has been three weeks since a tractor-trailer barreled down down Route 79 toward the Commons, tried to make a sharp right turn onto Aurora Street at apparent high speed, and smashed into the southeast corner of Simeon’s restaurant, killing a pregnant young mother working inside and horrifying the community.
The driver was ticketed for defective brakes, but police have yet to establish an exact cause of the crash. Questions arose almost immediately about whether regulations and signage for trucks on that stretch of road were sufficient to reduce the risks of calamity.
Earlier: Could better signs have helped? Official looks at similar Ithaca roads after Simeon’s tragedy
So, what’s the city doing about it? The Ithaca Voice asked Tim Logue, city transportation engineer, and Gene Cilento, of the New York State Department of Transportation, what can be done and the process for getting there.
1 –What’s happened so far?
2 –Will the public be able to view proposed solutions?
3 – Who controls the hilly stretch of road on Route 79 within Ithaca, the city or the state?
4 – What kinds of changes could the city make? What types of ideas might be coming?
5 – What actions can the Board of Public Works take at its meeting in July 28?
1 – What’s happened so far?
Mayor Svante Myrick directed the engineering division of the public works department to brainstorm ways to improve safety, especially with heavy trucks, on the steep roads descending into downtown Ithaca. A list of ideas in memo form will go to the Board of Public Works to discuss at its July 28th meeting.
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2 — Will the public be able to view proposed solutions?
Yes, the memo mentioned in the question above will be posted with the agenda for the Board’s meeting — probably by July 24 — on the city clerk’s “Agendas” section of the city’s web site at this link: http://www.egovlink.com/ithaca/docs/menu/home.asp?path=/public_documents300/ithaca/published_documents/Agendas
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3 — Who controls the hilly stretch of road on Route 79 within Ithaca, the city or the state?
The city. The state maintains state roads within the city along the “tuning fork” —the stretches of Seneca and Green Streets that run parallel to The Commons in the central downtown area. But the city maintains the segments of state roads on the hills leading into downtown. It can make some changes on those parts of the roads without state approval.
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4 — What kinds of changes could the city make? What types of ideas might be in the upcoming memo?
The city could add more signs alerting trucks to the steepness of grade; it could lower the speed limit for trucks on certain stretches of road; it could divert heavy trucks to alternate routes to avert ninety-degree turns at the bottom of the hills; it could work with the state and adjacent towns to tighten safety measures on the roadways leading into the city.
The city also could explore more sophisticated measures that haven’t been tried locally: scanning equipment to read licenses and instantly determine, through registration checks, commercial vehicle weights, or speed detection devices, or other sophisticated methods. Some of these might be costly and untested.
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5 — What action can the Board of Public Works take at its meeting on July 28?
The Board has a lot of leeway to act on its own, as long as there is money in the city’s operating budget to pay for the action. It could adopt some measures immediately; it could make a recommendation to the Common Council (especially if an item is likely to be costly); it could ask the engineering staff to explore the feasibility and cost of particular items on the brainstorm list.
We’ll be sure to keep you up-to-date as the process moves forward.
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