The Jogging Jeweler

| Ardsley 1st Edition - No Sidewalk Saw Mill River Rd |

Notice anything....There is no sidewalk.

Yes, you still see snow on the side of the road because I've got a backlog of videos I need to write about.

A reader asked that I run down Ogden - I did. Then across the Saw Mill and into Ardsley via the South County Trailway. The only way to get back into Dobbs Ferry from Ardsley is to run over the bridge, which can not be accessed from the Trailway and requires running on Saw Mill River Road. 

There are no sidewalks on either side of this road that is under some pretty heavy construction. Screenshot below is an image of the South County Trailway in Ardsley. 

With the development of the Danforth Apartments along the Saw Milll River Parkway, pedestrians have limited access to Ardsley, their options being

Whether there is a sidewalk allowing for pedestrians from the North end of Ardsley into the village is not a course I have ran, yet. Based on Google Map images there do not appear to be sidewalks leading from the trail towards Starbucks.

What does this mean?

Well - either the Danforth apartments are attracting some adventurous pedestrians 

- or  -

there will be more vehicles on the roads of Ardsley - Just. Like. Every. Other. Rivertown. 

Our villages and residents need to accept and acknowledge that our roads were built at a time when most households were lucky to have 1 car. Now, many households have 2 or more, depending on how many teenagers they have. If you take the number of existing households, multiple that by 2 - that's double what our roads were built for - whenever they were actually built.

Now add in the new developments every Rivertown has and while were at it, add in the dramatic increase in popularity of cycling - our roads are being shared by a larger population than ever before. 

What can we do?

Maintain the sidewalks you have, so they feel and look accessible to all pedestrians...

• Trim trees, so people don't need to duck
• Keep shrubs & bushes pruned, sidewalk space is limited enough
• Shovel the snow, sweep the leaves
• Fix the broken - elderly stumble & trip, runners leap, & strollers knock those babes around
• Don't have a sidewalk? Help the neighbor that does, ever heard "it takes a village" 

Speak up - Complaining about developments and traffic is not motivation for getting solutions. Write letters to motivate actions that allow for town dwelling pedestrians to feel that choosing to walk within our villages is convenient, safe, healthy, and beautiful. 

This video demonstrates a first for The Jogging Jeweler - prior to this video I had never crossed the Saw Mill River Parkway at Lawrence Street. Crossing at this location posed no immediate problems however in my time standing there I did observe a few things.

At the request of a reader we traveled up Ashford Ave and down Ogden to capture what traveling is like for a pedestrian in this area of Dobbs Ferry. As you witness in the video above - we are counting cars again. 10 cars pass without stopping. 

The Jogging Jeweler

|Main St streetscape improvements in Dobbs Ferry |

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Council has opened a public comment period through 4 p.m. on Friday for street and sidewalk improvements as well as Metro-North railroad bridge projects throughout Westchester and Rockland counties.

The state proposes amendments to the Federal Fiscal Years 2017-2021 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). The comment period provides an opportunity for public feedback on the proposed changes to the TIP.

They are looking for comments regarding the following areas in the Rivertowns:

• Beekman Avenue pedestrian improvements in Sleepy Hollow
• Main Street streetscape improvements in the Village of Dobbs Ferry
• Main & River Streets/ Metro-North Railroad bridge steel rehabilitation in the Village of Tarrytown
• Main & Wildey Streets over the Metro-North Railroad bridge rehabilitation, Village of Tarrytown

Source: http://rivertowns.dailyvoice.com/news/state-seeks-public-comments-on-pedestrian-streetscape-in-dobbs-ferry/704562/

THIS is an opportunity to make a difference, but let's be purposeful in our comments as they are in regard to ADA Compliance specifically - meaning wheelchair, handicap, and disabled accessibility. Think of the sidewalks and curbs along Main St - are they accessible to people in wheelchairs, with walkers, the blind, or others with disabilities? 

Specifics we can comment on:

1. The Intersection of Chestnut and Main St (as pictured below) does not have ramps available from all directions. Forcing people into oncoming traffic to use a ramp facing another direction to enter the sidewalk.
   

2. The intersection of Main St/ Livingston/ Walnut has a similar issue - a lack of ramps, again forcing people into oncoming traffic to enter the sidewalk without a curb. 

3. Also - given the opportunity to raise awareness to pedestrian safety issues within the Village the lack of crosswalks along Main St should be raised as well. Technically - we have ONE crosswalk on Main St - at the corner of Chestnut & Main. The next is at the Livingston/Walmut intersection. Neither of these crosswalks aid the portion of Main St that currently has the most foot traffic - the area between Cedar & Chestnut. Where clients to Sams, Readers, The Post Office, Home Again, Gary's Pharmacy, The Beauty Parlor, and many, many more!

Why does sending in comments help?

Comments are incorporated into notes about each project, and sent out with the ballot to the voting members of the Metropolitan Planning Organization, members can choose whether or not to react to those comments.  The voting members of the Metropolitan Planning Organization have 5 days to vote, after which projects are added to the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP).

If you would like to comment:

Comments are due in writing by 4 p.m. on Friday, March 24 to: 

or, by emailing: Oluseye.Folarin@dot.ny.gov

P.S. - I plan to run Main St., up one side and down another, this afternoon to post a video tonight regarding Main St that we can share in our emails to NYDOT. If you know of more places along Main St that are questionable to ADA Compliance PLEASE COMMENT - that way others who may feel motivated to send an email in the next 24 hours can include those things! 

The Jogging Jeweler

|The Old Croton Aqueduct Usage - Part 3.2 |

Welcome back for the second part of analyzing the results from the OCA Survey. The remaining two questions to be reviewed are...

How far do you travel on the OCA?

Takeaways...

• 2-3 miles - 80 votes
• 3 - 5 miles - 72 Votes
• 1 mile - 51 Votes
• 5 - 7 miles - 33 Votes 
• Adding up the higher mileage groups (2-7 miles) we have 185 users or 82.5% of users on the OCA for at least a one mile stretch - meaning a majority of users are traveling at least one direction for a mile and turning around.

What answers outside of those provide on the survey does this give us about the OCA?

• Using Dobbs Ferry, a central location for the Rivertowns, one mile on the OCA heading North gets you through Mercy College campus and just over the Irvington border. One mile South on the OCA from Dobbs Ferry, gets you into Hastings.
• Most likely users are on the OCA in more than one village - crossing multiple streets without crosswalks. 

Why do you use the Old Croton Aqueduct?

Takeaways....

This question "broke" about half through the survey, and had to be reset. Whomp! Whomp! The answers to this question are based off of 104 users. Do not despair, we have the recent tally to compare to the survey results. 

• In this question users were allowed to select multiple answers as the OCA provides many different types of users - we had 104 users, and 191 answers. 
• Walkers - 76 Answers
• Running - 46 Answers
• Dog Walking - 27 Answers
• Bicycling - 25 Answers
• School - 12 Answers
• Work - 5 Answers

Tally Vs. Survey

• Walkers dominate both the tally and survey. 
• The survey results skewed lower for students as they most likely are not on the Facebook groups this survey was posted in - limiting their ability to provide answers. 
• Dog Walkers in both the Survey and Tally, are similar, 12% and 14%, respectively.
• The Work group in the tally does not show as based on visuals it is difficult to know if someone is walking to and/or from work, unless they were to be specifically asked like in the survey. 
• Runners & Bicycles both nearly doubled in the survey versus the tally. 

What does this tell us? And how do we improve the OCA for any and all groups?

1. Walking users are the OCA largest subset - Perhaps installing OCA entrance signs throughout the villages and/or village guides to indicate locations of attractions & needs.
2. Dog walkers - Wonder if they are the subset that pushes higher on the frequency of use? Maybe adding trash cans so avoid dropped bags of pooh.
3. Athletes - Runners/Bicycles - This tally likely changes with the weather - snow, ice, rain and mud likely create fair weather users in these subsets. Leveling out entrances where terrain meets road so there is no broken pavement or curbs to push bicycles and strollers over.
4. Students - Based on the tally results, students are nearly 1/3 of all users - most likely during the school year and at times directly before/after school. Can we get some crosswalks for these kids?

Last time I checked - when you love something, you treat it nicely. Perhaps its time we ask that the OCA is shown some proper love?

The Jogging Jeweler

|The Old Croton Aqueduct Usage - Part 3.1 |

First  - to address the participation in this survey, you all were outstanding! THANK YOU! Supporting the cause and driving education of our community is the first step into developing enhancements that we all benefit from. 224 of you demonstrated working together on this survey, that makes this Jogging Jeweler brimming with sunshine in pride for our Rivertowns!

Second - the devil is in the details, we're taking it slow and breaking the survey into two blogs. All of the information is important and to keep from losing people on the survey results of questions three and four, they'll be posted in a blog tomorrow.

So - read on, share, talk about how many people use the OCA & of course, stay tuned!

Question #1 - How often do you use the OCA?

Takeaways...

• The leading group (55 Votes) - 17 times or more/month. In a four-week month, that is four visits to the OCA per week. 
• The Second leading group (54 votes)  - 2-4 times/month, one visit per week in a four-week month. 
• Third Leading group (50 votes) - 5-10 times/month, 2-3 visits per week in a four-week month. 

Does usage of the OCA directly impact the residents of our villages on a regular basis? - Yes.

Why? - Of the top three groups of users - 159 people use the OCA weekly. Include the fifth group, which was not a majority, however uses the OCA frequently (11-16 times/month) - 187 people use the OCA weekly. That's 83% of the people that took the survey using the OCA at minimum once per week, but typically more. 

Question #2 - Where do you enter the OCA?

Takeaways...

Going to break it down village by village, adding details where due as again - the devil is in the details. 

• Hastings - 81 Votes - Sharing is caring. Boy did HOH turn out! The survey was shared more by the residents of HOH, so more than likely their skew of higher numbers is a result of that. 
• Irvington - 52 Votes - Irvington welcomed our family to the Rivertowns. My experiences there do not surprise me that this village turned out the votes, when Irvington gets behind something, they go after it & are a force I admire. 
• Dobbs Ferry - 50 Votes - My hometown, the village I was concerned would skew the results because of knowing a larger portion of the audience did not in fact skew to being higher. Take what meaning you will from that...
• Tarrytown - 39 Votes - Tarrytown surprised me, they're just far enough north that I wasn't sure our survey would reach or relate, but 39 votes!
• Yonkers - 2 Votes - Not shocked, Yonkers was the only town I could not find a community group for on Facebok, unless I'm missing it? (I'm sure if there's one a kind and smart person will point it out for me :-)

Did one village demonstrate more usage over another? Hastings-on-Hudson clearly rocked the survey, however as mentioned above it did benefit from sharing within the community. HOWEVER - let this be an excellent demonstration why sharing is caring! If you want something addressed, you need people - lots of people - people talking about the lack of crosswalks, asking questions about where you run, pointing out flaws in your survey, and sharing the desire to create safe roads, sidewalks, and trails. 

Now that we're buried beneath snow and ice, my recent run on an atypically warm March day seems like ages ago - ice ages! Sun warming my face, I passed more pedestrians that day than recently and that got me wondering - How many people use the OCA and why do they use it? And so - began the tally of pedestrians and the types of pedestrians encountered. 

The Jogging Jeweler

| Survey: The Old Croton Aqueduct Usage |

Always researching and seeking data to enhance pedestrian safety, I have created an online poll about local usage of the Old Croton Aqueduct. On a recent run during one of these last warm days, (video/blog to be posted soon) I wondered how many of our local residents use the OCA on a semi-regular basis. I certainly see an uptick in other pedestrians on the warmer, sunny days than the not-so nice days. 

Help me, help you - take the quiz and share via Facebook! The more we know the better we can face the facts and present our case to the local BOT's that the OCA needs attention in the form of signage, crosswalks, and more!

(Blog Photo Credit - Nadia Fante)