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Recap: Downtown sidewalk repairs to start next year

BARBARAELLEN KOCH PHOTO | A pedestrian walks on the north side oaf East Main Street over a section of the sidewalk where the trees roots tore up the cement. The town temporarily repaired it with asphalt.

The State Department of Transportation will complete a project to replace all the sidewalks in downtown Riverhead by the end of the fall of 2014, officials told the Riverhead Town Board Thursday. Town officials had indicated earlier in the year that the project could begin this year.

Rob Smith of the DOT said at Thursday’s Town Board work session that the job would begin in the spring of 2014 and be done by the fall of 2014. The sidewalks on both sides of the street from Union Avenue to Griffing Avenue would be replaced, and west of Griffing, the DOT would fill in the gaps where there are no sidewalks on the north side of Route 25 as far west as River Road.

The town received $1.2 million in federal grants for the downtown sidewalk repairs in 2005, but waited for the state to do the work, which never happened.

The board on Thursday also discussed the $600,000 Brownfield Opportunity Area grant it received from the State Department of State in 2011. That money is being used on a just underway study, which will be done by the firm of Nelson, Pope and Voorhis, which covers a 452-acre area stretching from East Main Street near Hubbard Avenue to Tanger Outlet Center.

It seeks to help the town overcome obstacles to redeveloping areas near “brownfields,” such as old gas stations or areas that have had contamination, and will focus on issues like parking, traffic flow, and pedestrian and bike uses, among other things. The study will examine existing conditions as well as the possible impact of proposed developments and make suggestions on ways to make improvements for traffic flow and parking downtown.

Click below to read reporter Tim Gannon’s live blog of the work session discussion.

 

April_25,_2013_-_Agenda(1) by rnews_review