Mayor vows no delay to underpass work
trust us, we’re experts, we don’t need data or a study, full speed ahead.
In a heated Village Hall meeting Tuesday night with at least 30 residents in attendance, Ridgewood officials including the mayor did little to allay concerns about the outcome of the construction at the Franklin Ave. underpass. Mayor Paul Aronsohn vowed the project would go on as planned despite repeated requests to stop and study possible solutions. While vowing to make changes to the project, the mayor did not give any detail what the changes would be. The often loud and contentious meeting saw village engineer Chris Rutishauser under constant questioning to reveal facts and studies that led to the redesign of the heavily traveled east/west artery. Rutishauser admitted there had been no study, no hard count this year of the number of cars that travel the road, no estimation of the number of bikes and no counter to residents’ concerns that removing lanes would add to traffic congestion and therefore reduce overall pedestrian safety. Rutishauser was often combative with residents and seemed ill prepared for the onslaught of doubt and skepticism over the project. The best traffic data Rutishauser could offer was 7,000 cars traveled that area a day but he did not know how many years old that data was. Left unsaid by Rutishauser was the increase over the years in traffic at the underpass. While Police Chief Ward had the lone hard fact and data point of the night: 86 accidents at the trestle since 2008, he gave no context to the data point and did not say how that number compared to other high traffic areas of the village. Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld called the project “a leap of faith”.
Other key revelations at the meeting:
No study of existing traffic patterns
No facts to support the road changes
No immediate change to traffic lights, changes that officials admitted would help facilitate left turns at the West side intersection. No timetable was given for acquiring those much needed newer lights.
The project was designed with bike lanes to draw federal tax dollars under the complete streets planning doctrine.
The theory behind the project is to “calm traffic”, a planning concept used overseas that involves narrowing roads and other measures designed to actively slow cars.
No clear answers why the village failed to seek public input on the changes to the main artery.
