Friday, April 19, 2024 | St. Lawrence County, NY
By ANDY GARDNER MASSENA -- The state Department of Transportation denied the Town Council’s request to reduce the speed limit on North Raquette Road, between Bayley Road and O’Neill Road, …
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By ANDY GARDNER
MASSENA -- The state Department of Transportation denied the Town Council’s request to reduce the speed limit on North Raquette Road, between Bayley Road and O’Neill Road, according to Town Highway Superintendent Frank Diagostino.
“They said there’s no roadway characteristics in the road, no roadside developments, no accidents for statistical analysis saying speeds were a hazard,” Diagostino said at the Wednesday town board meeting. “They did laser analysis.”
“The sad thing is if there were five accidents and three people killed, we’d qualify. That’s what it would take,” Town Supervisor Joseph Gray said.
In July, the board appealed to the DOT for a speed limit change
Allen Rowledge told the board he lives near where the speed limit goes from 30 mph to 55 mph and it causes a hazard from people going in and out of driveways.
“Since moving there I have been close to rear ended by cars coming out of the village,” Rowledge said at the July 15 Town Council meeting. “They’re eager to get out of town and accelerate.”
The board’s motion they passed at the time said they would wait to make their request to the state until Rowledge gets a petition in favor of the change with signatures from his neighbors.
Town officials’ predictions at the time came true. They said they don’t believe the state will make the change.
“We need to it submit to county, the county submits it to the state and the state will likely say no … the town will not make that call on their own, the state will make that call. They’ll send the state police out there,” Highway Superintendent Frank Diagostino said July 15.
He noted that the town has asked for several speed reductions in recent years, one of which was near the area now in question.
“We’ve had several requests to reduce that speed limit and they said ‘no,’” Councilman Albert Nicola said at the time.
Rowledge originally asked the town to move for a 30 mph limit instead of 45.
At the time, Councilman John Macaulay said he wasn’t comfortable with that because it could result in more tickets, which means more unnecessary work for the town court.
