Construction Equipment Guide
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Wed October 25, 2000 - Northeast Edition
Due to the efforts of local politicians, the Delmar Bypass (NYS Route 32) between Elm Avenue and Route 9W in northeastern New York is getting a much-needed facelift.
The $5-million, 100-percent state-funded project spans a stretch of 3.26 mi. (5.25 km) and encompasses five intersections. When completed in November, the flow of traffic at the Bypass will have been improved and congestion relieved by providing new left-turn storage at the Bender Lane and Kenwood Avenue intersections. The storage areas allow vehicles, such as school buses, to hold there without extending into traffic. The left-turn storage lanes at the three signalized intersections — Elm, Murray and Elsmere avenues — were improved and new traffic signals with pedestrian activation buttons were installed.
“To do that,” explained Jim McDonald, project engineer for the New York State Department of Transportation (NYDOT), “both the concrete and asphalt pavement had to be reconstructed and the roadway had to be shifted 12 ft. The slopes on the median and the outside were flattened for safety reasons and the drainage was revised. We also removed the deteriorated concrete and replaced it with asphalt. Depending on the extent of the deterioration, some were small patches and others were full replacement.”
Over the years, a change in the land use surrounding these intersections resulted in an increase in pedestrian traffic and bicyclists. To accommodate these increases, additional modifications were made. “All of the crossovers in the middle were widened, and there are striped bike paths and crosswalks at all but one intersection. None of that existed before,” McDonald said. “Now the pavement is wide enough.”
The state-of-the art pedestrian buttons display the amount of time a person has left to cross the highway before the signal changes. In addition, the timing of the traffic signal at Elm Avenue was adjusted to allow for safer passage for bicyclists and pedestrians. The existing multi-use path at that intersection was also improved.
Despite a month-long delay, the reconstruction project remains on schedule. The work was originally scheduled to begin in mid-May. However, when a portion of nearby Delaware Avenue was closed as a safety precaution following the Normanskill Creek landslide, NYDOT made the Delmar Bypass one of the major detours for the more than 19,000 vehicles that travel Delaware Avenue each day. To avoid any further inconvenience to travelers, the start of the reconstruction contract was delayed until the end of June.
With the paving season coming to a close at the end of October, the pressure was on to bring the project in on time. Callanan Industries Inc. of South Bethlehem, NY, the job’s prime contractor, together with NYDOT, worked aggressively to make sure that happened.
“Due to traffic restrictions we would come in at six o’clock at night. We worked nights, weekends and extra hours for four weeks to keep things moving on schedule,” explained Alan White, project manager for Callanan Industries. Callanan was responsible for the pavement removal and reconstruction work.
The Bypass improvements could not have come soon enough. White said the pavement in that area had been “band-aided for years and years and years. The original pavement dated back to the mid-1950s. The concrete had badly faulted and much of it was cracked. While it wasn’t dangerous, there were many complaints about the rough riding surface.”
Those complaints didn’t fall on deaf ears. “There was a big push by local politicians to complete the reconstruction. That road supports a lot of truck traffic, with the nearby train yards and landfills. There is also a heavy volume of local traffic coming across Route 32, especially during rush hour. They [politicians] wanted to get that straightened out,” reported White.
Although the Bypass was a typical reconstruction project, it did include regrading the median area to facilitate new federal highway specifications. That work would still have to be completed just to maintain the highway, regardless of the reconstruction, White said.
Callanan Industries was founded by Peter Callanan in 1883 in South Bethlehem, NY, as an aggregate mining company. A forward thinking farmer, Callanan pioneered the concept of a state highway system and won the first road-building contract let by New York State.
Callanan continues to be a major supplier of construction materials and services to the New York State Department of Transportation, as well as other customers. The company provides a complete range of high quality aggregates, asphalt paving and ready-mix concrete products to state, federal, municipal, commercial and private customers. For more information on product lines and services, visit www. callanan.com.
The following New York State subcontractors also contributed to this project: Donnelly Construction Inc., mowing turf; Cardona & Sons Inc., culvert cleaning, signs and guide railing; LaCorte Companies, electrical; Straight Line Industries Inc., permanent striping; Academe Paving, sawing/sealing; August Bohl, clearing and grubbing excavation, drainage and saw cutting; and Upstate Striping Company, construction markings.