Bethlehem plans Delaware Avenue revamp to enhance safety and reduce speeds

Key features include lane modifications and pedestrian safety enhancements

DELMAR – Bethlehem Director of Planning Rob Leslie provided an overview of the ongoing Delaware Avenue Complete Streets Design project, which aims to enhance pedestrian safety and reduce vehicle speeds on Delaware Avenue.

The project extends from the Elsmere-Groesbeck intersection on Delaware Avenue to the city of Albany. The primary goals are to reduce vehicle travel speed and create a safer environment for pedestrians. Key changes include reducing lane widths from 12-14 feet to 11 feet, and allowing for the addition of 2-foot shoulders, which will move vehicles away from the curb and pedestrians on the sidewalk.

According to the plan, the travel lanes will remain two in each direction throughout most of the existing roadway but will be reduced to 11 feet wide with 2-foot shoulders.

The modifications will allow for additional features, including a pedestrian refuge island and a mid-block crosswalk near the Salisbury and Snowden Avenue intersection, where the road will be widened by 10 feet. The crosswalk will also be accompanied by rectangular rapid flashing beacons to alert drivers to pedestrians waiting to cross.

Leslie said this will provide a safer crossing point for pedestrians between existing traffic signals at Elsmere Avenue and Delaware Plaza.

The road widening will affect approximately nine property owners. The New York State Department of Transportation is in the process of reaching out to these property owners for the acquisition phase. Over the winter months, town staff and engineering consultants met with numerous landowners and business owners to discuss driveway modifications, aiming to reduce pedestrian-vehicle conflicts by narrowing driveway widths.

The plan also includes reducing the travel lanes between Lenox Street and the city of Albany from four to two lanes. Leslie said this is to tie into the existing condition where there is one lane coming in and out of Albany. This will allow for a center turn lane to access area businesses and vegetated medians.

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