South Nyack beefs up its TZ Task Force as it tackles surrounding the new crossing’s bike and walking path.
Following a public outcry, the three members of South Nyack’s bridge task force quickly decided to hit the reset button, asking the Tappan Zee project team to work with them to take another look at where the path would end in the village, where people would park and other local impacts.
The task force also made another move: it added Toolan to its team, along with Nancy Willen, who recently retired from the Clarkstown Highway Department.
Toolan, a land surveyor currently working on the Second Avenue subway project in Manhattan, has remained active since that contentious meeting with village and project officials at Nyack College. In many ways, he represents the other village residents who spoke that night, those skeptical of the state’s intentions and worried about the dangers that drivers in search of parking in neighborhoods would pose to residents.
A resident since 2007, Toolan, his wife and three children live on Cornelison Avenue, not far from the proposed site for the path’s terminus at the corner of his street and South Broadway. That terminus would be directly across from a southbound entrance to the Thruway.
“I’m pretty directly affected by what’s happening with that” path, Toolan said, describing its location “an afterthought” on the state’s part.
Rather than just complain, Toolan has been trying to come up with solutions, as he’s well-versed in blueprints and design technicalities.
Even before joining the task force, he met with project engineers to pitch a plan. It’s a bit complicated but basically allows Interchange 10 to remain a construction staging area for the duration of building, but eliminates the need to circle entirely around the interchange. Instead, he envisions a roundabout near South Franklin Street. He calls for reconnecting Route 9W back to Hillside Avenue to handle two-way traffic and closing off the Thruway entrance on South Broadway, so the ramp can be used for parking.
Though he has no hard cost figures, he admits it would carry “quite a price tag.”
“It’s kind of grandiose, but it all makes sense,” Toolan said. He also belongs to the Tappan Zee Gateway Alliance, a recently formed group concerned about the location of the shared path.
A rendering of Toolan’s proposal will be included in a meeting to update the community of the different ideas. It may take place this month.
Toolan remains a pragmatist though. He said ending the path at Cornelison as originally planned remains “a huge possibility.”
But it won’t be for a lack of effort from him and others in the community.
“I know there’s a lot of animosity you can get wrapped up in, but I would rather get a good solution than focus on what was done in the past,” Toolan said.
Willen, a 10-year resident of South Nyack, acknowledged that while she had to catch up with the rest of the volunteer task force, her experience working as confidential secretary to the highway superintendent for 16 years made her familiar with some of the issues and players involved.
Connie Coker, a member of the village task force, was excited to see what the two newest members would bring to the conversation.
“I think they’re both really going to add a lot,” Coker said.
Twitter: @ksaeed1