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VALHALLA, N.Y. – Not many in Mount Pleasant would mind if the streets near their homes were in top shape, yet many factors go into improving the overall quality of a road in Mount Pleasant. Town Supervisor Joan Maybury said it’s a process that involves a lot of push and pull.
“There’s a lot of things that need to be looked at,” Maybury said. “For instance, at a situation like Elwood Avenue in Hawthorne there’s sometimes a visibility concern with parked cars, but at the same time if you take away those parking spots it affects the local businesses along there.”
The roads in Mount Pleasant are the responsibility of three jurisdictions – the town, county or state. Maybury said this can be frustrating as many residents will simply place the burden of repairing a road on town officials.
“A lot of times it’s an improvement that we can’t even make, so we’re waiting on the state or county to make those improvements,” Maybury said. “Or in some areas the roads will be partially a town road so it turns in to a bunch of patch work that turns into one collective project.”
Each year, the town’s highway department evaluates roads within the town that are in need of repaving and prioritize them based on need. The town has plans to pave Lochland Road, Sunset Drive, Nannyhagen Road, Maplewood Way, Stanley Street, Rosalind Avenue and Booth Street this year.
Some residents in town, including Vinny Grolli, think roads could be improved not just by filling in pot holes but by restructuring the flow of traffic for safety concerns. The Elwood Avenue intersection is one he said needed help.
“Drivers heading north off the stop sign on Elwood head straight into oncoming traffic for those heading south, straight through on Commerce,” Grolli said of the intersection just past Gordo’s and Berger Hardware. “The intersection needs a traffic light.”
Resident Adrienne Novak is concerned about the safety of the Stevens Avenue hill in Hawthorne.
“It’s windy, steep and slippery when wet and covered in leaves,” Novak said of the hill, which runs between Valhalla and Hawthorne.
Maybury said any safety concerns regarding roads are directly forwarded to Mount Pleasant Police Chief Louis Alagno. From there, the department performs a safety evaluation to determine if any alterations need to be made. Maybury said that any additions, such as a stop sign or traffic light, must be approved by the town board. All resident requests involving potholes or paving concerns should be sent to the town highway department.
Comments (1)
It would just be nice if they paved the residential streets at all! I lived in Millbrook, NY for 3 years and they paved my dead end street twice. I've lived in Mount Pleasant for 18 years and have NEVER seen my street paved. There's literally grass growing down the middle of my street.