NORWICH – A group of citizens attended a public hearing about the ongoing New York State Rt. 12 Corridor Study Thursday evening, many of them concerned about either losing traffic in front of their small businesses or having more trucks driving past their homes.
State and county transportation department officials were on hand to reveal the long-term solutions identified in a second phase of a study that was initiated by Chenango and its neighboring counties decades ago. The NYSDOT is currently addressing short-term passing and other safety fixes to improve the 84-mile stretch from Binghamton to Utica. Those improvements have been funded and should be made within two to three years, DOT officials say. However, none of them directly address congestion in the downtown Norwich area.
Connectors to interstates 81 and 88 and Route 8, a truck bypass on East River Road around the City of Norwich, 3 lane passing lanes and even a limited access expressway were some of the solutions identified to improve traffic flow and promote economic development in the corridor. Those improvements are still 15 to 25 years away, the officials said.
East River Road resident Laura Carey said she was surprised to see a map of in the study identify her road, also called county Rt. 32, as a truck bypass.
“You have 40, 50 and 55 mile speed limits along that road. You can’t have a truck route with that. When we moved, we were told it was not going to be a bypass around Norwich. Now it’s a truck bypass,” she said.
Improvements already underway on 32 were initiated prior to the corridor study, and funded with federal and local dollars, Chenango County Public Works Director Randy Gibbon said.
The owner of Arby’s, located north of the city on Rt. 12, said she had completed traffic studies prior to making the decision to open the restaurant. “We invested millions in developing these businesses. We certainly don’t want it to be taken away,” said Nicolina Mendolia.
Coffee shop worker Nicole Lester said her business relies on tourists traveling the corridor through small villages like Oxford. “You might reduce shipping costs for big guys, buy you are cutting out the little guys,” she said.
NYSDOT Project Developer John J. Fitzgerald said the DOT was “sensitive” to the suggestions made and appreciated the “invaluable feedback.”
“We don’t have any motivation to bypass. We want to look at all of this comprehensively and objectively,” he said.
New York State Representative Clifford Crouch, on hand at the gathering, said the DOT “is paying close attention to this very important corridor” and wants “to do the right things for people who live, work and drive by.”
“Our goal in DOT is to not skirt all small communities,” he said.
Long time Town of Norwich resident and Councilman Charles W. Brooks asked Fitzgerald and the handful of other state officials present if Rt. 12 traffic issues in Chenango County were going to be addressed.
“We’ve been talking about improving Rt. 12 since 1950. Is this for real? Are we going to get these things done in Phase 1 and then forget Norwich in Phase 11?”
DOT Region 9 director John R. Williams said any decisions made after the second study phase is complete would be “a matter of funding.” About $100,000 million in state and federal funds has already been set aside for Phase 1 improvements.