Newburgh sidewalks to be revamped

By CLOEY CALLAHAN
Posted 11/4/20

The City of Newburgh passed a resolution at the October 26 council meeting authorizing the City Manager to accept a proposal from Creighton Manning Engineering, LLP to begin making a section of …

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Newburgh sidewalks to be revamped

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The City of Newburgh passed a resolution at the October 26 council meeting authorizing the City Manager to accept a proposal from Creighton Manning Engineering, LLP to begin making a section of Newburgh’s sidewalks compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The ADA requires the City of Newburgh to construct curb ramps when streets, roads or highways are altered through resurfacing. The project was awarded an amount of $50,800.

The engineering firm will complete professional land surveying that includes establishing horizontal and vertical control at intersections, field verification, utility research with appropriate Dig Safe survey mark out request and generation of topographic base mapping for a number of intersections.

The project is expected to be complete 90 days from the award, meaning it will be finished by January 2021.

There are 22 intersections in total that will be worked on with this project. The roads on which these intersections are located include Lake Drive, South Williams Street, Walsh’s Road, Dickson Street, Bridge Street, Overlook Place, Fleming Drive, Liberty Street and Renwick Street.

Each of these roads are also a part of the five year paving plan that the City announced over the summer. This plan will resurface more than 25 miles of roadway throughout the City.

The paving process always begins with ensuring the curb ramps are in compliance with ADA specifications.

In addition to making sidewalks ADA compliant and ready for paving, the City has also been looking at other ways to improve its sidewalks.

The Orange County Transportation Council (OCTC) issued a Call for Projects as part of their 2021-2022 Unified Planning Work Program asking municipalities to identify planning projects that will maximize surface transportation systems throughout Orange County.

The City of Newburgh Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) responded to the call and submitted an application for three different projects.

The first is for a study to determine the feasibility of implementing sidewalk improvements districts in the city. This would determine if creating the districts would improve sidewalk repairs, which would help promote public health and safety by reducing risks and increasing walkability.

“I think there is a very strong chance that we will get it,” said councilman Anthony Grice. “The sidewalk improvement is very important especially as we look at how we help residents fix their sidewalks.”

The second project that TAC submitted an application for was for a wayfinding study in the Lake Street corridor. This would help increase the number of walking and biking trips, reduce confusion on the streets, reduce greenhouse emissions in Newburgh and again, promote public health and safety by increasing walkability.

The final project application is for a microtransit feasibility study to determine whether microtransit will strengthen the transportation network in Newburgh and its surrounding areas. It would help improve mobility for Newburgh residents to the areas of Montgomery and Beacon.

“I’m hoping we get this and move the micro mobility legislation along,” said Grice. “It is three grants, but I was ensured that it would be managed well if we were awarded all of them.”

All of the funding would come from OCTC for any of these projects.