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Town, village officials still want Wesvalley traffic light

A car prepares to stop at the corner of Wesvalley Road and Saranac Avenue in Lake Placid. This is where a temporary traffic light was located during the Main Street construction project over the past two years. It was dismantled in late October after two-way traffic resumed on Main Street. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

LAKE PLACID — With traffic expected to increase around Wesvalley Road as people move into the new housing developments nearby, town and village officials here are reviving their fight for a traffic light to be installed at the intersection of Wesvalley Road and Saranac Avenue. This time, to address pedestrian safety, officials are also considering installing a sidewalk along Wesvalley.

At their most recent board meetings, members of the Lake Placid Village Board of Trustees and the North Elba Town Council passed resolutions supporting a permanent light to be installed at the north end of Wesvalley Road.

The resolutions were sent to the state Department of Transportation. Because Saranac Avenue is technically part of state Route 86 and is therefore under the state’s jurisdiction, the decision to install a light at the intersection ultimately lies with the DOT. Local officials hope the resolutions will remind the DOT of the need for a light at Wesvalley.

A temporary work light was installed at the intersection of Wesvalley Road and Saranac Avenue for the duration of the two-year Main Street construction project, but the light was removed in late October after construction wrapped up. Wesvalley Road was part of a detour around the construction zone, which was open to one-way traffic on Main Street. Town and village boards previously attempted to get a traffic light installed at the intersection a couple of years ago, but local officials said the DOT denied that request.

Village Mayor Art Devlin said the town and village’s continued and “collaborative effort” to get a light installed at the intersection was first sparked by community concern — residents have said it’s difficult and dangerous to make a turn onto Saranac Avenue from Wesvalley Road during peak tourism seasons and large-scale events.

“The light at least gives them a chance,” Devlin said.

DOT Public Information Officer Bryan Viggiani said in an email Tuesday that the DOT denied the previous request for a light at Wesvalley following a traffic study at the intersection.

“Our previous analysis in November 2021 indicated that traffic volumes, usage of the intersection by motor vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians, and crash history did not warrant a permanent traffic signal at this location,” Viggiani wrote.

But with two new housing developments on Wesvalley — 22 units in the Fawn Valley development and another 60 apartments in the MacKenzie Overlook apartment complex — and the 2023 FISU Winter World University Games coming to this village in January, local officials have renewed concerns about driver safety at the intersection.

Viggiani wrote that, separate from the DOT, the municipalities can request a study of new traffic at the intersection directly from the developers of housing units that are allegedly contributing to increased traffic there; if the traffic study finds that a new development “negatively impacts transportation infrastructure,” according to Viggiani, the municipalities could “require the developer to mitigate those impacts.”

Doty said last week that he was in touch with DOT representative Pat Barnes about the traffic light. On Monday, Doty didn’t have an update on whether the state was considering installing the light, but he hoped to get in touch with Barnes again to see if the DOT could either install a light or perform another traffic survey at the intersection this winter.

Doty said last week that he thought motor vehicle accident history was especially important to the DOT’s decision to install a traffic light.

“It is common knowledge that, generally, traffic lights in a situation like that aren’t put in until there is serious accidents or an accident history,” Doty said. “We’re hoping we don’t have to wait until then.”

Doty said that the DOT representative thought that, because of the 2023 Games, the state could speed up its typical time frame for assessing traffic light need. Doty said no one from the DOT has “blatantly” said no to the request in recent history. When asked if the DOT has plans to further consider installing a light at the intersection, Viggiani didn’t specify the DOT’s plans by press time Tuesday.

Wesvalley sidewalk

To address pedestrian safety around Wesvalley, according to Doty, the town and village are now also looking at installing a sidewalk along Wesvalley Road.

“As the added housing units were built down there, it became apparent almost right away that as soon as they’re filled up with residents — and especially kids and people traveling that road — there’s the need for not only the traffic light, but we’re in early stages of how to put a sidewalk in there as well,” Doty said.

Doty said the town and village are still in the “research phase” of installing the sidewalk from the intersection of Saranac Avenue and Wesvalley Road to at least Cummings Road. The boards first plan to meet with an engineer to get an idea of construction costs. Essex County has already offered an engineer for the project, according to Doty, which could help save some money in the beginning stages before transferring the project to a larger engineering firm for construction.

Doty said it could be a year or more before a sidewalk on Wesvalley comes to fruition, but that it’s “definitely a high priority.”

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