DOT agrees to Mineral Springs Road detour

4/5/2011

By David Avitabile and Jim Poole

DOT agrees to Mineral Springs Road detour

Mineral Springs Road will be used as the detour when the Route 7 bridge near Stewart’s in Cobleskill closes this summer.
Also, there will be no detour signs on I-88, as requested by downtown merchants affected by the bridge closure.
State Department of Transportation officials said Thursday that Mineral Springs Road and not I-88 will be used as the detour. Schoharie County Supervisors Tuesday night joined officials from the towns and villages of Cobleskill and Richmondville in the request.
The project is expected to begin June 15 and take three months.
The state typically keeps detours on state roads unless there is a request from the local governments, said David Hamburg, public information officer for DOT region IX.
Instead of having detour signs on I-88 as originally planned, there will be detour and “business open” signs on Route 7 by Mickle Road on the West and by Shad Point on the east said John DeMis, deputy commissioner for the county Public Works Department.
Detour and bridge closed signs on I-88 may have cut into tourism traffic during the summer, county officials said.
“We get a lot of that July-August tourism and we don’t want to miss that,” said Cobleskill Supervisor Tom Murray. “We don’t want detour signs on I-88.”
The change is needed to keep traffic flowing into the Village of Cobleskill “so the businesses can stay afloat and won’t turn the village into a ghost town,” added Mr. DeMis.
The only change in signage on I-88 would be for which exit motorists would be told to get off for local businesses, according to DOT project manager Katy Mangan.
Some supervisors said they did not want any detour signs at all, but Ms. Mangan, in a conference call at last week’s special county board meeting, said detour signs were needed to guide travelers.
Mr. DeMis added that with no signage, many drivers would just follow their GPS devices and “then there would be a bigger problem.”
There will be another detour as well.
At a special DOT meeting about the bridge project last Tuesday, Ms. Mangan said drivers will be able to use Bridge and Rose streets near Stewart’s to bypass the bridge.
Bridge and Rose are getting new water and sewer lines, pavement and sidewalks. Economy Paving, the company replacing the bridge, is also doing the work on the two streets.
That work has already started and will be done––leaving the streets available for detour traffic––when the bridge closes June 15, Ms. Mangan said.
While the state agreed to move the major detour from I-88 to Mineral Springs Road, DOT did not agree to take any responsibility for damage to Mineral Springs because of an increase in traffic.
If local officials asked for the detour to be off the state road, the state “can’t be responsible for the local system,” Mr. Hamburg said.
Esperance Supervisor Earl VanWormer said that the state should be responsible to pay for any damages.
Saying that the county should pay for any damages “won’t be working with us but against us,” he said.
Most supervisors said that the increase in traffic on Mineral Springs Road should not be as great as the state predicts.
Martin Shrederis of Schoharie said there should not be an increase in tractor-trailers on Mineral Springs Road and most of the increase in traffic will be from local drivers.
“I can’t see 6,000 more cars a day,” added Mr. Murray. “I think their counts are way high.”
Mr. DeMis said there would be a height restriction on the detour of 11 feet eight inches because of the bridge on Grand Street.