DutchRailnut wrote:not really, by taking out the one crossing were accident happened it will double the traffic on other crossing.
And so it would create a similar accident situation, when traffic backs up.
Not if the crossing in question is surplus-to-requirement to begin with. Lakeview Ave. is the thoroughfare connecting to the parkway. Commerce St. is a redundant side-street shortcut through the cemetery that doesn't become anything load-bearing until it's on the other side of the parkway. Its volumes are low...except when the parkway is all messed up. Then it's a lazy shortcut to bail out of the Lakeview traffic queue 500 ft. in advance of that signal by banging a left. Pure induced demand trap...and has been ID'd as such in the past. There'd be zero loss of mobility if they closed it. And if they tied Wall St. into the part of Commercial that's on the other side of the parkway they'd arguably shorten the signal queues by eliminating the adjacent set of parkway lights and directing more traffic clear across Lakeview to Wall. Also something ID'd in the past as a tidy-up for the messy layout.
People refused to give up their God-given right to take any instant-gratification shortcut, even when its very existence makes aggregate traffic worse by sticking a second set of traffic signals on the parkway where there doesn't need to be one. But it took an accident of this magnitude and newsworthiness to get the village to
*consider* the possibility of closing a surplus-to-requirement crossing. And just consider; chances are the instant-gratification mob is going to beat that change back too once public comment has run its course.
Cleveland St. is in exactly the same boat, in exactly the same village. That shouldn't exist at all when adjacent Legion Dr. bridges over the tracks. Ditto Green Ln. in Bedford Hills with its crippled northbound-only parkway access 3/4 mile up and 3/4 mile down the road from 2 real full interchanges.
That's 3 out of electric territory's 9 public crossings that any traffic engineer would objectively say have no reason to exist or make traffic worse by existing than if they didn't exist at all. The only reason they persist is "Me! Me! Me!" and local interference making it impossible for state-level agencies like the MTA and NYSDOT to manage their own state-level transportation assets. Yes, one crossing elimination in isolation isn't going to have measurable effect on the aggregate. But three completely useless crossings closed? Now we're starting to add up some maintenance savings, safety precaution savings, liability savings. How about four closures? Brewster isn't completely devoid of options for offsetting the loss of Ellen Ave. hillside parking should that crossing be closed to vehicle traffic, and the 2 houses up there can easily have their driveways snaked through the backside of the hill. That one would've been on the table for closure years ago if locking horns with "Me! Me! Me!" mentality at the town level weren't such a thankless and ultimately futile task. 5 crossings--pared to the essentials--between NWP and Southeast instead of 9 is a whole different ballgame. Now you actually have rolled up enough savings to bank some budget for improving the sightlines and road geometry at Virginia Rd., or install quadrant gates and advanced crossing detection at Lakeview and Jay St. @ Katonah. Or starting to save some money in the piggy bank for an eventual road bridge at Roaring Brook Rd. for safe access to the rehab hospital and high school.
Can't do any of that or shift real budgetary investment over to the critical-most crossings where the upgrade and SGR money does the most good when the state's hands are tied over chintzy crap like townies' overinflated sense of entitlement over their lazy neighborhood shortcuts.