ONEONTA _ The state Department of Transportation will seek public input at the end of the month on a massive highway reconstruction project on Oneonta's Southside that could include the area's first roundabouts.
Two local officials suggested Sunday this could be one of the last chances for the public to weigh in on a project with an expected price tag of $10 to $13 million.
The DOT is proposing a widening of the Southside retail corridor from the Main Street intersection with Exit 14 of Interstate 88 to the town of Davenport with up to five lanes of traffic and new amenities for pedestrians and bicyclists. The project also includes Lettis and Foster highways.
The DEC is considering two versions of the project: one with roundabouts and traditional traffic lights and one with only traffic lights.
A public informational meeting is scheduled for 4 to 7 p.m. Jan. 29 at the Oneonta High School cafeteria and DOT officials are expected to give an update on the status of the project.
"It's important," said David Hutchison, chairman of the city's Environmental Board.
Whatever eventually gets selected and built is what the community will be stuck with for about 30 years, Hutchison said.
The project has been under consideration for several years. The DOT began holding meetings in 2001 and at one point construction was to have begun in 2006.
DOT officials had previously said a slope failure on state Route 23 near Interskate 88, as well as the response to the June floods, caused the project to be delayed.
Construction is tentatively scheduled for 2010 and is expected to last two years, DOT officials said.
Hutchison, an advocate for more walking and biking in Oneonta, said he has not heard that the parameters of the project have changed since early last year when DOT officials last came to Oneonta to speak at a public meeting.
Oneonta Town Supervisor Robert Wood said the Jan. 29 meeting could be one of the final chances for the public to provide input.
"I'd be very interested in supporting walkways and bike paths," Wood said.
Former Oneonta Town Supervisor Duncan Davie had previously suggested Southside was not the place to encourage pedestrian traffic.
But Hutchison said it's time to plan for a future that may be less reliant on automobiles.
"I'm pretty well convinced peak oil is here," Hutchison said.
Peak oil refers to the point at which global oil production reaches a terminal decline.
"The days of cheap energy are past us," Hutchison said.
Roundabouts, which are smaller than traffic circles and are designed to slow traffic down at intersections, have drawn controversy in other parts of the state.
New York began building them in the late 1990s and now has 42 of the intersections, the Associated Press reported Sunday.
An Insurance Institute study of 24 intersections before and after roundabouts found the new device reduced the number of injury-causing crashes by 76 percent.
and crashes that caused fatal or incapacitating injuries by 90 percent, the AP reported.
Those with questions or comments my contact the project manager, Bill Naylor, at 721-8631.
