Citizens look at the plans
KINGSTON – City officials laid out design plans for the Broadway Streetscape project in Kingston on Thursday.
The estimated $5.5 million project plan will call for a major improvement
to the Midtown section of Broadway, which Mayor Steven Noble said will
be primarily focused on increasing safety on the stretch between Grand
and St. James streets.
“We have our most amount of traffic accidents along this corridor,” said Noble. “We have our largest amount of pedestrian accidents along this corridor, and we really want to be able to help improve that. This new design of being able to have a through lane in each direction, and then a turn lane in the middle that’s protected, so that you can have these protected turns, will increase safety.”
The design calls for full replacement of the signaling infrastructure
from St. James to East Chester streets, as well as new sidewalks, new
parking infrastructure and a dedicated bicycle lane on one side of the
street, along the section of Broadway from Grand to St. James Street.
Emily Flynn, a city resident and a leader of the grassroots cycle advocacy group Bike-Friendly Kingston, said she cycles that section of Broadway frequently, but she would never take her young daughter who is budding cyclist herself. “I would never take her on Broadway currently and with a protected bike lane, I feel that I might be able to,” said Flynn.
Although safety is being heavily focused on, the project will also be introducing “green space” along the entire stretch of road.
“Essentially bioswales, or also sometimes people call them rain gardens, that will be in the space between the sidewalk and the street, and that’s where we’ll be able to collect stormwater and also have our street trees located,” said City of Kingston Grants Manager and Broadway Streetscape Project Manager Kristen Wilson.
It’s the multi-faceted effectiveness this project presents that has allowed Kingston to secure approximately $4.7 million, or 80 percent of the project cost, through various grants and agencies, including the state departments of Environmental Conservation and Transportation, and Environmental Facilities Corporation.
Noble said the project will be “transformative” for the Broadway corridor. “It really will create this new vibe for Kingston, one where we’re actually getting to invest in Midtown and starting to put public dollars into a neighborhood that hasn’t had that type of public investment,” he said.
The city hopes to begin the bidding process for construction either late this year or early next year with construction to begin, weather permitting, sometime thereafter.
