WPCNR BUMPER TO BUMPER. Traffic News & Comment By John F. Bailey. June 22, 2008: At a recent meeting of the Old Oak Ridge Neighborhood Association, that “Oak Ridge Boys” got to hear City Traffic Commissioner Tom Soyk and Mayor Joseph Delfino on what the future holds in store for White Plains. What they learned according a citizen present at the meeting was there’s more diabolic construction to come. The flollowing does not represent either Mr. Soyk's nor Mayor Delfino's views of the project. They simply showed the plans. Has the DOT got plans for us? You bet they have.

 Department of Transportation plans for finishing their scorched earth twisted concrete construction at the always-fun Exit 8 interchange from Dr. DOT Demento – a gas-wasting, aggravation levitating approaching proportions of the old Bruckner Traffic Circle in The Bronx (remember?) – were showcased by Mr. Soyk and they do not look good, gasoline-mindful drivers! At lower right is the 333 Westchester Ave former Kraft Foods property. At lower center is the North Street interchange, planned to go under a new Westchester Avenue Superramp. For Southenders coming up North Street they have to cross the Expressway and take a left into White Plains to access I-287 Eastbound via the SuperRamp upper left of picture.

WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. From Westchester County Department of Communications. June 11, 2008: The Westchester County Department of Transportation is conducting a study to determine whether a high capacity rapid transit system could run along one of the county’s major commercial strips extending from White Plains at the north end to Yonkers and the New York City subway in the Bronx.  BRT would offer many of the advantages of rail transit but at a lower cost.

“With gas well over $4 a gallon, improving transit service is critical to giving people more feasible travel options,” said County Executive Andy Spano.  (Pictured above is a Bus Rapid Transit System station in Bogota, Columbia)

WPCNR TAPPAN ZEE BRIDGE NEWS. June 5, 2008: The Project Director of the Tappan Zee Bridge/I-287 Corridor Project, charged with the evaluation and recommendation of the best solution to replace the aging Tappan Zee Bridge, told WPCNR today that a decision on the best transit alternatives to replace the 49 year-old bridge (undergoing repairs as needed) will be delayed “for weeks.”

Mr. Anderson (shown here at a February 2008 meeting, said his people were checking figures going over alternatives and their data and were not as far along as they had hoped in coming to a final recommendation (on transit mode selected for the bridge makeover – commuter rail, bus rapid transit, light rail). He gave no reason for the delay. He said no decision had been made.

WPCNR THE PARKING NEWS. From City Hall. May 28, 2008: Melissa Lopez of the Mayor's Office has issued a statement on the Parking Policy in effect Monday. Here is that statement:

1. We do not have an exact count at this time of parking tickets given on Memorial Day, during the parade.  The Parking departments enforcement efforts during this parade were the same as all other parades.  We did not issue tickets to parade participants , but  as usual  we did issue tickets to the general public who  did not have enough money in meters to pay for their parking. 

This parade  was not treated any differently  than any other parade during the course of the year.  The City has to provide services during all of these special events  throughout the year and the services must be paid for.  We have voided any tickets that were issued to Veterans who might have been issued a ticket while they were parade participants.

2. The City Center  Garage is open and has been open  this past weekend as well. The repairs to the selected decks are going forward and we hope to have all repairs completed by  the end of this week or beginning of next week .

WPCNR THE PARKING VIEWS. By John F. Bailey. May 28, 2008: It was a beautiful Memorial Day, a great parade, a moving Memorial Ceremony at the White Plains Rural Cemetery Monday. 

If you came to White Plains to see the parade, though, and did not know White Plains parking regulations are enforced even on holidays, it cost you a $15 Parking ticket – aggressively, ruthlessly, sadistically enforced by the WP Parking Enforcement Officers.  

Even though the long parade prevented the memorial ceremonies from beginning until 11:40 AM – no slack, no tardy parker was spared – except perhaps parkers at the American Legion Hall on Mitchell Place after lunch, but we do not know that.  WPCNR has a call into City Hall to get an exact count of how many tickets were distributed during parade hours into the early afternoon. I wait with baited breath.

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WPCNR THE PARKING NEWS. By John F. Bailey. May 23, 2008:  Separations, cracks in the caulks or welds connecting and supporting two concrete ramps  in the City Center garage on City Place were discovered by a Department of Parking employee Wednesday,  according to Commissioner of Parking, Albert Moroni.  Moroni  said the city closed off two ramps in the garage to vehicular traffic. However, all six levels of the garage remain open for parking,  and are safe Moroni said.

WPCNR BUMPER TO BUMPER. From North Broadway Civic Association. April 22, 2008: Don Hughes notes that motorists traversing crosstown White Plains will have to contend with lane closures on Hamilton Avenue -- the major East-West route through the Count Seat.
      
Hamilton Avenue in White Plains between Ferris Avenue and North Broadway will experience alternating lane closures from Tuesday, April 22 until Friday, July 25 between the hours of 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.  There are no lane closures scheduled during peak morning and evening commuting hours.

These alternating lane closures are due to road resurfacing work, such as milling, paving, drainage and other improvements.  The closures will be controlled by flag persons.

Delays are to be expected and motorists are advised to seek alternate routes.

Alternate routes from North Broadway include Cemetery Road (westbound), Park Avenue (east-westbound) Barker Avenue (east and westbound directions), Main Street (eastbound direction only), Quarropas Street (westbound only)from Mamaroneck Avenue, Martine Avenue (west bound), Post Road (east-westbound), and Maple Avenue (eastbound,westbound).

WPCNR GUEST EDITORIAL. By Henry Ferlauto. March 20, 2008: In a few short months, one of the most important infrastructure and public works projects of our lifetime for the New York City tri-state region will be decided by a committee of people; most of whom are people we have never net, and will never know their names.  The Tappan Zee Bridge, which directly connects Westchester and Rockland Counties and ties together the entire tri-state area in so many ways, is aging and none too gracefully.  Yes, it’s true; our 50 year old bridge doesn’t look a day over 75.

Tappan Zee Bridge from 10,000 feet.

WPCNR Tappan Zee Times. By John F. Bailey. March 19, 2008: The Port Authority's  Stewart Airport in Newburgh has  tripled its ridership to its six airlines in one year, serving 900,000 passengers in 2007, compared to 300,000 in 2006. Its success and expansion is a key component of Tappan Zee Bridge restoration project now on target for a decision on the preferred configuration in May, according to the key planner for the Hudson Valley speaking at the Hudson Valley Regional Economic Summit Tuesday

Stewart  seeks more cargo and passenger business and new routes to the west and Caribbean to attract more ridership from its present airlines, its manager Diane Ehler said today at the Hudson Valley Regional Economic Summit. Ehler said the Port Authority hopes to attract development partners to add amenities to the airport, including parking,  is  repaving ramps to handle heavier planes.  To date, Ehler and her assistant told WPCNR the increased passenger traffic and partial implementation of  new Federal Aviation Administration flight patterns have not resulted in noticeable complaints to the airport.

WPCNR Tappan Zee Times. By John F. Bailey. March 17, 2008: The new Cross Westchester Expressway construction between the Bronx River Parkway and Harrison currently in process is not going to be the infrastructure for any future East-West super transit bus/highway/rail corridor in the Tappan Zee Bridge-I-287 redesign currently under consideration. Any new construction would have to be built separately and accommodate it, the Tappan Zee project director told WPCNR today.

The Current I-287 White Plains Corridor Construction Project: Any new Tappan Zee 287 Corridor would "accommodate it."

The Tappan Zee Bridge, I-287 Corridor Project Director, Michael Anderson, told WPCNR whatever the final decision is on a  combination of bridge design, bus, rail or highway  corridors is best to ready the aging Tappan Zee-I-287 corridor for the rest of the 21^st century, it will be designed independent of the construction now being executed  (at great inconvenience and impact on White Plaisn) for 1.8 miles of the I-287 expressway in the White Plains area.

WPCNR'S THE FEINER REPORT. By Paul Feiner. Greenburgh Town Supervisor. February 4, 2008:

WAS THE COUNTY/METRO NORTH PREPARED AFTER METRO NORTH ANNOUNCED THAT
THERE WAS NO SERVICE IN AND OUT OF GRAND CENTRAL STATION ON Tuesday,
March 4th?

SHOULD THE COUNTY HAVE HAD A PLAN TO SEND MORE BUSES?

  WPCNR TAPPAN ZEE TIMES. From Westchester County Association. March 4, 2008: Citing  the New York State Comptroller’s recent assertion that New York State literally cannot afford to pay for a replacement or even a major rehabilitation  of the Tappan Zee Bridge—estimated at more than $14 billion—The Westchester County Association (WCA) today announced that it is aggressively exploring privatization of the bridge as perhaps the only practical way to resolve the bridge crisis. The Comptroller suggested a public/private partnership approach to the problem.

William Mooney, President of the Westchester County Association in January with Westchester County Executive  Andrew Spano, at the WCA Breakfast with Andy Spano event, when Mr. Spano called for private investment to take over infrastructure improvements.