Mayor's Desk: Street Signs and Construction

New Street Signs

An agency of the federal government is “improving’ us for our own good.  Of course, they are not paying for this improvement, but we are told that it will benefit us and, by the way, you have no choice – you must do it.

What am I talking about? The new larger, reflective, street name signs that it has been mandated that we install, and that will soon be appearing on our street corners. An example is at the corner of Heineman and Harrison Avenues, where the name “Heineman Place” is in large, bold, black letters on a white reflective background. A second example is at the intersection of Harrison and Halstead Avenues.  

We did have a choice as to the background colors: white, blue or green, but the colors would have been about $5.00 more expensive for each sign. Personally, I liked the blue, but money is money, so we are ordering the white background.  

The town has about 1,300 street signs now, although we don’t have an exact count yet. Residents have been telling me that there needs to be one “here” and “there”, that a sign came down and was never replaced, so there may be a few more than that 1,300.  

We also don’t have an exact cost yet, as some signs will be long: IE: Heineman Place, Sunny Ridge Road, and some short: IE: Oak Street, Pine Street. We do know, however, the cost will be in the neighborhood of $65,000 to $70,000.

We have a few years to get all the signs changed, so we will be taking advantage of that grace period, given our present austerity budget. Two hundred signs will be ordered within the next few weeks, with more in following years. Progress is wonderful.

A resident came to see me last week as he did not understand how the changes now being made around I-287 would affect him and his family. Piles of dirt here, a new bridge obviously being built there, the widening of the roadbed at the original level of 287 – how will it end?

Briefly:

Going east on I-287, for Purchase and West Harrison residents there will be minimal change. The exit to Anderson Hill Road will remain the same. The exit for West Harrison will be in the same location, but improved because the cars that now use that exit to go into White Plains will be diverted to a new exit that will merge with Westchester Avenue after the White Plains Avenue Bridge.

West Harrison cars will follow the route that they do now, merging with Anderson Hill Road traffic, only there will be but three lanes of traffic instead of the present four lanes, and there will be a single traffic light instead of the two sets of lights that are there now. Waiting time will be shortened.

I am told that there are between 2,500 and 3,000 cars that pass through the traffic light at the intersection of White Plains Avenue and Westchester Avenue. The majority of those cars will now go under the White Plains Avenue Bridge, come up a ramp to merge with Westchester Avenue and then go into White Plains.

Cars exiting I-287 to go east to North White Plains will have a new Exit 7, which will merge with the ramp taking cars onto I-287 west, with cars then merging right to go to North White Plains, and cars going onto I-287 west merging left. This is already happening.

For Purchase and West Harrison residents going onto I-287 west, there will be minimal change. It will remain essentially the same traffic lanes as now exist.

For people coming from or going to the east, there will be significant changes. For Exit 8E, there will be a bridge connecting it to what is now called Old Westchester Avenue, to proceed to the White Plains Avenue bridge or to North Street. For people leaving White Plains for I-287, Purchase or West Harrison, there will be a ramp going down to the present level of I-287, to what is being called New Westchester Avenue. The left side of this new roadway will enter onto I-287 going east. The right side of the roadway will have a ramp up to the Anderson Hill Road bridge, and cars will continue as they are doing now during this construction period.

People coming out of White Plains will not be able to cross the White Plains Avenue bridge into West Harrison, but will have to use the lower roadway, exit onto Anderson Hill Road, and then continue the loop around Anderson Hill Road as is now required.

Going east, for Purchase and West Harrison residents, there is a definite change. There will no longer be an access to I-287 just beyond the Anderson Hill Road overpass as there is now. That access is being removed as the federal officials said that it would be too close to the new access from New Westchester Avenue.

Therefore, West Harrison residents will either have take the back roads and loop through White Plains onto the new roadway that is under the White Plains Avenue bridge, or go east on Old Westchester Avenue to the present access near Kenilworth Road. Purchase residents may prefer to use Purchase Street, and access I-287 east  or I-95 from there by various routes.

Everything is clear, right? The doing of it will be easier than reading all this. In the meantime, we can only marvel at all the construction, knowing that at some point in the next two years, there will be order out of the present apparent chaos.

A Farmers’ Market will be opening on Saturday mornings in West Harrison in the lower parking lot in June, although the exact date is not set yet. It will be operated by the same people who run the Market in White Plains, a most excellent group.