White Plains CitizeNetReporter - <i>King Komments:</i>How You Can Eliminate Downtown Cut-throughs.

WPCNR KING KOMMENTS by City Councilman William King. July 24, 2002:The City should look at various ways to reduce traffic cutting through Downtown White Plains. This will reduce auto exhaust and be better for the downtown economic environment as well. Cut-through traffic does nothing for the City's economy and has a negative effect - people opt to avoid congestion wherever they can - and will opt to avoid White Plains.

Widen Cemetary Road, Railroad Overpass

One relatively inexpensive solution that may help to siphon off some traffic and direct it around Downtown is the following: widen the Cemetery Road underpass under the Metro-North Harlem Line to allow 2-way traffic between the Bronx River Parkway and North Broadway and on to I-287.

The underpass is and has been for longer than I can remember one-way westbound from North Broadway to the BRP. I have been through it many times, in a car and on foot and did so again, while running, this morning. The abutments are old and cracked. The clearance height is only 10' and a few inches and the outer cross-beam supporting the tracks has obviously been smashed into at least once.

When cars drive through the dank underpass they immediately go over a small metal-plated old wooden bridge over a narrow stretch of the Bronx River. For as long as I can remember, one side of the metal cladding is not bolted down so each car makes the metal clang as it goes over the bridge.

At the Bronx River Parkway, there are already 4-way traffic signals. The stretch of Cemetery Road between Ferris Avenue and North Broadway is fairly wide already but could be widened further, on either side of Cemetery Road as needed, without disturbing or coming too close to the Rural Cemetery, its historic caretaker's house (originally a Methodist Church built in 1795) or I-287 and an embankment sloping down to the highway.

Creates Better Access to BRP from I-287

Having a 2-way connection to the Bronx River Parkway would make the BRP more accessible to/from I-287. It is important that this connection be aided by directional signs on both roads. It would not be expensive or technically difficult compared to having on/off ramps between the 2 roads which would be very expensive and would be logistically challenging if not impossible, given the differences in elevation where I-287 crosses over the BRP.

Cars coming up the Bronx River Parkway from the south, for instance, headed for offices along I-287 to the west or along Westchester Ave. and in Purchase and Rye Brook to the east, including the soon-to-be-reoccupied Texaco building by Morgan Stanley, will be able to quickly skirt Downtown White Plains, if they can take a right on Cemetery Road to North Broadway and a quick jog onto 287 in either direction, again, aided by directional signs.

No connection between BRP and CWE Unfortunate.

It is unfortunate that there is no connection between 2 of the major highways through White Plains. I once heard a previous mayor (Schulman) say he was proud of being instrumental in the planning of I-287 when this was decided but I don't think this has been good for White Plains in the long run.

Since the viaduct carrying I-287 over the Bronx River Parkway and Reservation has recently been totally rebuilt, I see little chance of somehow adapting it any time soon for any kind of direct connection - any connection would also interrupt the reservation itself, although the area of the Reservation adjacent to I-287 has already been severely compromised by the noisy roar of the traffic on 287 above.

County to fund?

I think this project would also be good for the County as a whole, since it would help decrease commute times of the county workforce . As such, I think this project would be a good candidate for joint funding with the County with possibly substantial financial assistance from the State.

Many other projects throughout the state on the boards, such as the proposal to build a new stretch of Route 9A around Elmsford, are way more expensive. Also, the bridge over the Bronx Riiver and the abutments holding up the train tracks need to be replaced - this underpass and the one on Fisher Lane just north of the North White Plains Train Station (which is 2-way but very narrow) are both clearly outdated.

Downtown Cut Throughs Amount to 8-Lane Freeway.

I see the traffic pouring into Downtown White Plains every day as I go to/from the train. The amount of traffic flowing in from Central Ave., Tarrytown Road, the Bronx River Parkway and over Battle Hill into Main Street is huge. When pairing Main St. with Hamilton Ave., it is like having an 8-lane freeway going right through our Downtown.

If a lot of the water from this 'traffic river' is flowing right through town, without benefitting the banks of the river, our Downtown, let's try to channel some of it around the Downtown.


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