By Russ Tarby

Contributing Writer

Concerned that the closing of two of four lanes on Onondaga Lake Parkway will cause traffic backups in the village of Liverpool, the Village Board of Trustees has endorsed an alternative: reducing the number of lanes from four to three.

Last fall and winter representatives of the New York State Department of Transportation made several public appearances at which they outlined changes to the roadway designed to improve safety.

The DOT’s preliminary design concepts for the $8.6 million project include eliminating one lane in each direction for portions of the parkway, installing medians, reducing the speed limit, replacing the over-height vehicle detection system and improving signage. 

On May 5, as a follow-up to a meeting between village, county and DOT officials at the village hall, Liverpool Mayor Gary White sent a two-page letter to David Smith, the regional director of the state DOT.

The letter was accompanied by two schematic drawings by Village Engineer Greg Sgromo depicting the village’s preferred changes to the parkway and to the village’s primary intersection at Oswego and Tulip streets.

Regarding the parkway plan, White reported that village trustees supported a reduction from four to three lanes. The mayor suggested “maintaining two lanes from Liverpool southbound to Syracuse and reducing to one lane from Syracuse northbound to Liverpool to the railroad bridge.”

This arrangement, he wrote, would eliminate potential backups in the village.

White addressed a related issue, a long-proposed bicycle trail looping Onondaga Lake.

“This three-lane configuration would provide NYSDOT the ability to achieve the desired safety improvements and provide a space of at least 11 feet to accommodate the Loop the Lake bike trail,” he wrote,

As to possible changes at the busy intersection of Oswego and Tulips streets, the mayor hopes to solve the decades-old problem of northbound traffic on Oswego Street suddenly merging into a single lane just north of Tulip Street.

The village’s schematic drawing over an aerial photo of the intersection calls for three southbound lanes from Tulip Street, two of which would be left-turns only, and one which would allow traffic to pass straight through or turn right. The merger on Oswego Street would be eliminated.

“That’s been our longstanding request,” White told the Star-Review. “The way traffic merges there just as the road curves, and with the Third Street fork right there on the left, it’s a dangerous situation.”

The DOT had suggested adding the second left-turn lane from Tulip Street to accommodate increased truck traffic expected to be generated by the giant warehouse being built on Morgan Road.

In his letter to the DOT, White complained about the department’s lack of responsiveness.

At the Feb. 19 meeting, he wrote, “we were assured we would be updated by the NYSDOT as reviews and plans progressed relative to both projects. To date, we have not received any updates.”

Likewise, the village has received no written responses from the DOT to numerous concerns that were raised by residents after more than 100 people packed the Liverpool Middle School Cafeteria on Dec. 2 to examine the parkway proposal.

The village hired a stenographer to transcribe that meeting and the transcription was delivered to the DOT.

The state officials have steadfastly refused to publicly answer questions about the project, preferring to stand behind their preliminary designs and to address questions in a one-on-one fashion.

In any case, the mayor of Liverpool concluded the May 5 letter by reminding the DOT regional director that the village would appreciate receiving written responses.