Cobleskill: Grandview sidewalk not that simple

3/4/2020

By Jim Poole

What appears to be the simple process of putting a sidewalk along Cobleskill’s Grandview Drive isn’t simple at all.
Village trustees are requesting engineering proposals for the project, which would include the sidewalk, drainage and probably resurfacing Grandview.
Trustees discussed Grandview last spring and had a light coat of blacktop applied because the street was in rough shape. Now they’re looking to put in the sidewalk.
The street, one of the busiest in Cobleskill, leads to Cobleskill Regional Hospital and Bassett Healthcare, on the site of the former Eden Park.
“There’s a surprising amount of pedestrian traffic,” said Deputy Mayor Howard Burt, noting that people must walk in the street.
The sidewalk would run from the Legion Drive intersection to the hospital’s Emergency Department entrance.
Complicating the sidewalk issue is the drainage ditch on the east side of Grandview. If the new sidewalk is on the street side of the ditch, water would run over the sidewalk to the ditch but freeze on the sidewalk in winter.
If the sidewalk is on the house side of the ditch, pedestrians might step off the walk and fall into the ditch, Mr. Burt said.
The best solution, he said, would be to replace the ditch with pipes and catch basins that would drain the water properly and keep it off the sidewalk.
“But that’s the most expensive,” Mr. Burt said. “It gets to be a real project.”
Plus, there are sewer lines and laterals on the east side to deal with.
“There are a lot of issues to mitigate,” Mr. Burt said.
The sidewalk can’t be on the west side of Grandview because of water and gas lines there.
Cost is an issue as well. Mr. Burt couldn’t give a cost estimate, and Mayor Becky Terk said it depends on what drainage option looks best. And, she added, if it’s too expensive, the village won’t go ahead with the project.
“If we can’t make it feasible, it won’t work,” Mayor Terk said.
Nonetheless, at some point, the sidewalk should be done, Mr. Burt said.
“Do we have the technology to do this? Of course we do,” Mr. Burt added. “We’ll see what proposals we get.
“It sounds so simple: Put in a sidewalk. But it’s not.”