BY CRAIG FREILICH

North Country This Week

POTSDAM – The intersection of Maple Street, Pine Street, Sandstone Drive and Clarkson Avenue will see some improvement this summer with the installation of new pedestrian controls.

“It’s an ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) contract for intersection ramp revitalization. It’s time to do 11 and 345,” said state Department of Transportation Region 7 spokesman Mike Flick.

He was referring to U.S. Rt. 11, Maple Street on that side of the village, and State Rt. 345, Pine Street extending into the Madrid road.

The $600,000 DOT project was awarded to prime contractor Dow Electric of Malone. The exact start date has not yet been set.

Flick doesn’t believe the work will result in major traffic problems at the complex and busy intersection.

It is that complexity that has inspired the improvements to pedestrian crossings there, particularly for people with disabilities. It will involve better signal timing and moving some “ped poles,” the posts on which call buttons at crosswalks are placed, Flick said.

There will be rerouting of subsurface wiring with shallow “saw cuts about a foot deep, which are much less intrusive than open trench cuts. The cable will be laid in and the cuts refilled,” he said. The call button posts will be set in concrete foundations.

The work is expected to be “of short duration ... but shouldn’t be too tough on traffic,” Flick said.