#community grid

Well, it’s dry reading, but NYSDOT and the FHWA have published the Record of the Decision, and it’s the Community Grid.   Now the bad news:  there’s a 150 day window for lawsuits.  That means Pyramid’s grandstadning lawyer may want his day in court, even if it accomplishes nothing.

Worse news:  Republican candidate for governor Lee Zeldin has yet to say anything.  Nor has any other prominent Republican.  But if he beats Kathy Hochul in November, it’s anybody’s guess if he will allow construction to continue or, at the insistence of Pyramid(’s pet politicians), throws a monkey wrench in the works.  

But still, we got to this point.  Whew!  

Save81 has returned to one of its old talking points of the grid making it impossible for traffic to reach the Dome.  Several points come to mind:   1.  They talk about 43,000 cars going through what is now the Van Buren roundabout.  Where does that number come from?  First, it would be per day, not all at once, and even then, the 43,000 might be a math mistake.  As you can see from the diagrams in the linked PDF, someone probably took a number on one segment during PEAK hours and multiplied by 24.  But “peak” means that would be rush hour.  Before and after that time, the numbers would be lower.  That’s why the daily total wouldn’t add up to 43,000.

2.  The roundabout is now ideally situated for people coming from the south on BL81, since they will turn right.  People from the north, east, or west would get off 690 at Crouse or Irving and go south on those streets.  So anyone on Almond St. north of the roundabout would probably not have to deal with it.  

After being quiet for more than a week, Save81 popped back to life going on about how traffic to the Carrier Dome would be a nightmare on the grid.  

The irony is that the DOT moved the roundabout to the intersection with Van Buren, right by the dome.  So, people from the south would take I-81 to BL81 and turn right on the roundabout.

Save81′s latest reused talking point about the community grid is about the roundabout that was planned to be near MLK elementary school.  I say “was” because it was reported TWO MONTHS AGO that NYSDOT wants to move it.  But they found a video that purports chaos happened when drivers came upon Kentucky’s first ever roundabout.  

Except that’s not what that video is about.

The video was produced by Walker Construction, who built the roundabout, to show how not to use it.  Here is their link on Facebook... https://www.facebook.com/102059874497105/videos/1675563852647082

If you click on “Overview” it clearly says it’s how not to use it.  Traffic was flagged.  In other words, those vehicles are doing that DELIBERATELY.

They did another video that shows the roundabout closer to completion and traffic moving normally:

https://www.facebook.com/walker/videos/456870328911831

I would love to know how it looks now.  Probably a lot of signs and no confustion.

Of course, the people who turned the first video into an internet meme never bothered to check the details (or ignored them), and for its own purposes, Save81 either didn’t do due diligence or did and chose to lie anyway.  

So in the community grid alternative of the New York State Department of Transportation's viaduct alternative for the I-81 viaduct project, how does the grid “disperse traffic”?