State Funding Secured for Bear Mtn. Parkway, Routes 35/202
News Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
The recently approved 2023-24 state budget includes $3 million to conduct a study of routes 35 and 202, along with the Bear Mountain Parkway from Yorktown to Peekskill.
Area legislators had been lobbying for the study, which will focus on traffic flow and safety issues, for the last four years following repeated concerns from residents and business owners.
“Motorists traveling on these busy state highways face inordinately long travel times because of the roadways’ narrow lanes, insufficient or non-existent shoulders, cross-traffic from side streets and areas of poor drainage, all of which require serious upgrading and improvements,” said state Sen. Peter Harckham (D-Lewisboro).
“We know how important this road is to our constituents and our local economy,” added Assemblywoman Dana Levenberg (D-Ossining). “Evaluating the road’s needs and how they have changed is critical to ensure we can move forward with the right improvements. We will continue to work together to ensure that this route and all of our roads receive the funding and attention they need to serve our communities well.”
According to the state Department of Transportation, about 57,000 vehicles use the roadways daily.
The cost for a study of the Route 35/202 /Bear Mountain Parkway corridor was seen in prior years as being too prohibitive. Harckham and Assemblyman Chris Burdick (D-Bedford) introduced bills to evaluate the roadways, contending the current conditions posed a significant risk to motorists.
“New York State Route 202 (Crompond Road) is a critical east-west route through the towns of Cortlandt and Yorktown and the City of Peekskill, stretching from U.S. Route 9 along the Hudson River to the Taconic Parkway and points east,” said Cortlandt Supervisor Dr. Richard Becker. “The road is heavily traveled with both commuter traffic and truck traffic serving the many residents, businesses and institutional users located along the route.”
Peekskill Mayor Vivian McKenzie said she is optimistic that the study will yield eventually yield improvements.
“The City of Peekskill is extremely grateful and hopeful that this $3 million study funding announcement will expedite a sustainable solution to moving people east to west, as well as our shared vision of a multimodal pedestrian, bike and scenic thoroughfare from Connecticut to the Bear Mountain State Parkway that honors the Northern Tier of Westchester County and its natural beauty,” said Peekskill Mayor Vivian McKenzie.
This is the second year in a row that local state legislators announced money had been made available for a study of a major state thoroughfare in the area. Last spring, officials announced the study of Route 9A from Croton-on-Hudson and Ossining south to Mount Pleasant as reports of traffic volume and accidents on the 90-year-old roadway continue to plague those communities.
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/
