NYSDOT Looking Into Center Median Turnaround on Sprain Brook Parkway
This past July the Sprain Brook Parkway in Greenburgh was closed for five hours as a result of a chemical spill. Motorists were very frustrated and upset and contacted Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner who wrote to the State Department of Transportation suggesting a turnaround be built in the center median of the parkway for motorists caught inn traffic due to emergency situations.
“A turnaround would provide motorists and first responders with the ability to avoid these long delays in the future,” Feiner said.
Last week Feiner received a response from NYSDOT Regional Director Todd B. Westhuis, indicating he would look into the possibility of constructing such a turnaround.
“The NYSDOT has an active Traffic Incident Management (TIM) team in the Hudson Valley region. This team, which includes NYSDOT, New York State Police and other state and local emergency response agencies, was charged with both the swift and safe clearance of the incident and the management of the traffic it generated. We view each incident as an opportunity to review best practices and have done so in this instance,” Westhuis wrote to Feiner.
“With regard to your request for a turnaround area, we will investigate the possibility of locating one in the center median. It is important to note that a turnaround would still require active traffic management during an incident in order to assure that vehicles using the area do not cause crashes in the opposite direction, potentially multiplying the effects of the original incident,” Westhuis further wrote.
