By JAY BRAMAN JR.
Correspondent

TOWN OF OLIVE, N.Y. — It took a few years, but a $15 million project to realign state Route 28A has been declared complete by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection.

The city, which owns the road that horseshoes around the Ashokan Reservoir, said the realignment will enhance driver safety and improve stormwater management around the reservoir.

“The improvements to Route 28A have made the road safer for everyone who uses it and facilitates additional recreational opportunities,” said Carter Strickland, the commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection. “The straightened road, improved sight lines, and wider shoulders will ensure drivers see each other and also the many cyclists and joggers who use 28A to enjoy the outdoors.”

The project, which was supposed to have been completed in 2010, realigned 0.4 miles of roadway and eliminated a dangerous ‘S’ curve on Route 28A. Another 2.1 miles of improvements were made to Route 28A, including tree cutbacks, widening of pavement and shoulders, the installation of guide rails and directional signs, “softening” curves and adjusting two intersections.

The project was developed in response to pressure from town of Olive residents furious with driving restrictions ordered by the city agency more than a decade ago.

Following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the agency closed Monument Road, known locally as the Lemon Squeeze, near the Ashokan Reservoir. As a result, drivers had to take a detour of several miles to get from the Shokan area of Olive to the hamlet of Olivebridge, a journey that used to be a short hop through the Lemon Squeeze.

At the time, city officials told local residents that New York City and its facilities were at high risk of terrorism, so to protect the dam that holds the water in the reservoir, Monument Road would be closed permanently.

After legal efforts by the town to force the city to open the Lemon Squeeze were unsuccessful, the community demanded improvements to the narrow, winding section of Route 28A that had become a permanent part of many a residents’ daily commute.

Last week, Olive town Supervisor Berndt Leifeld said he’s pleased with the project.

“Right now, everyone seems to be satisfied,” he said. “They were bitching and moaning while the work was being done, but now that it’s finished, I’m hearing good things about it.” Continued...

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Leifeld noted that the project also included substantial improvements to the Ashokan Spillway Bridge, the Bushkill Bridge, the Release Channel Bridge (waste channel), the Reservoir Road Railroad Bridge, the Stone Church Bridge and the Traver Hollow Bridge.

As for the concerns that the city was making a mountain out a molehill by carving out too much earth and forest to make way for the new roads, Leifeld said time has shown those concerns were ill-founded.

“I think they did a hell of a job,” he said. “Some people said it was opened up too wide, but it really is about the same width as other parts of the road. Wait for some smaller trees and growth to come in. It will be fine.”

The only complaint he did hear about recently was that a new fence put up along the roadway leaves no space for deer to get through.

“The big ones can jump over it, but not the little ones,” he said.

 

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