DOT input sought on intersection easement

The intersection of Main Street and North Bedford Road where the state Department of Transportation plans to remove a slip lane, install crosswalks between all corners and new signals.(Martin Wilbur photo)

By MARTIN WILBUR

Mount Kisco officials postponed granting a permanent easement to the New York State Department of Transportation on Monday evening in hopes of providing input to the state agency before it begins improvements to the Main Street-North Bedford Road intersection.

Displeased with aspects of the work done several years ago at the intersection of Main Street and South Bedford Road outside Northern Westchester Hospital, board members plan to relay information to DOT regarding how removal of the right-hand slip lane from Main Street onto North Bedford Road could cause traffic delays because school buses are not allowed to make right turns on red lights.

There will also be impacts on the intersection whenever the long-delayed Preston Way bridge rehabilitation work gets done because that street will be closed for up to a year.

Village Manager Ed Brancati said the DOT is seeking a sliver of village-owned land at the intersection to make their improvements to accommodate the wiring for the new traffic signals that will be at the location. Along with the slip lane removal, pedestrian crosswalks will be installed for all four legs of the intersection to make it safer for pedestrians.

Trustee Karen Schleimer said she has “significant issues” with what DOT is proposing, especially after the intersection work at Main Street and South Bedford Road has made it more dangerous for pedestrians. She said she is irked that the village hasn’t been contacted for feedback from the state and wants to avoid a repeat of the troubles at the crossing outside Northern Westchester Hospital.

The DOT also removed the slip lane from South Bedford Road onto Main Street.

“What happened at the hospital at 172 has created a traffic nightmare more than what was there before the reconfiguration, and I’m not sure it’s safer,” Schleimer said.

Other board members agreed that it has made it difficult for pedestrians. Mayor J. Michael Cindrich said there should have been “a safe haven island” included so pedestrians don’t have to scurry across the wide intersection.

Another point was raised by Mount Kisco resident Mark Maffia, a school bus driver. He said with state traffic law prohibiting right hand turns by school buses, it will back up traffic during sensitive times in the morning and afternoon. 

Also, the DOT has failed to take into account how detours caused by the Preston Way bridge closure will push more traffic onto Main Street and through that intersection. There is no starting date for that project because of an ongoing dispute between the village and the MTA about who owns what land and how the cost for the work over the train tracks will be divided.

Brancati cautioned the board that although the village will contact the DOT, intersection improvements on state roads is their responsibility.

“I want to be very clear that the intersection of North Bedford and Main Street is not us, it’s New York State DOT doing an improvement on two roads and an intersection that they own,” Brancati said. “It’s their roads, their right of way, so it’s not the village doing it.”

The DOT will pay Mount Kisco $725 for the permanent easement, he said. Work on the intersection is expected to be done next year.

The vote on the easement was postponed until the board’s next meeting, Monday, Oct. 6.