Hector Street Complete Street Project: Proposed Road Closure and Related Utility Work- Seeking Public Input
The City of Ithaca Engineering Office plans to advertise bids for the Hector St. Complete Street project by the end of the year for 2020 construction. During preliminary design and public outreach in January and February of 2019, the stated intention was to maintain traffic in one lane with flagging operations for most of the construction, with limited road closures to allow for more entailed work on retaining walls. As designed progressed, the Department of Public Works has committed to two projects in the corridor for City crews to complete: 1) the replacement of approximately 850 linear feet of water main and related services from the City line to about Oakwood Avenue, and 2) the continued installation of storm sewer between Hopper Place and Vinegar Hill, enclosing drainage and eliminating the current ditch. With this additional work, the City would like to allow for a road closure for a longer duration – up to 4 months of the proposed 6 months of potential work. Though we will not have a construction schedule until the contractor has been given a notice to proceed, the expectation is that the road closure would extend from approximately April 1 to August 1, 2020. Since this is a change from the public outreach earlier this year, the New York State Department of Transportation has asked the City to conduct additional public outreach around this topic. The Final Design Report is available on the City’s website here; however, DPW is proposing to re-evaluate the work zone traffic control portion of the report.
The proposed work zone plan would allow for Hector Street (Rt 79) to be closed to through traffic for up to four months, from Warren Place to Floral Avenue. Residents who live along Hector St and adjacent side streets will have access to their properties and emergency access will be maintained at all times. An official detour will be posted during this time using Cliff Street (Rt 96), Hayts Road, and Halseyville Road. The road closure will allow for the Complete Streets project and DPW utility work in a safe and efficient manner and will save tax payer dollars as well. It is understood that it will have some negative impacts of additional travel times on the detour or potential spill over traffic on other roads. However, DPW believes a 4 month closure will be an acceptable balancing act for the work.
Written comments regarding the proposed road closure will be accepted until December 2nd. Please submit such written comments to Johnathan Licitra via email at JLicitra@cityofithaca.org, or mail to:
Johnathan Licitra
Sidewalk Program Engineer
DPW-Engineering
108 E Green Street
Ithaca, NY 14850
