Oneida Square roundabout

[Deleted]

Oneida Square roundabout will bring city 'to the next level'

www.uticaod.com/features/x1651176465/About-50-attend-Oneida-Square-meeting

The photo makes the area look fantastic. This would be so good for Utica. Upgrading the image of Utica. Hopefully it would also drive out the mulls that bring drugs to people in the area.

[Clipper]

Very pretty, but would it not make more sense to use that money for some paving on some of the streets that have potholes big enough to lose a car in? I have read for months about the condition of Erie Street and other streets in the city. I guess I would be more practical in the use of the money in that I would spend it on fixing the older roads to make them passable, before I worried about "gridlock" which is a term that makes me laugh with what is purported to be rush hour chaos or cars stopped in all directions, unable to move through the area. Oneida Square is NOT Times Square people. I have yet to see actual Gridlock in Utica, where cars are locked into the intersection and nobody can make their turns or get underway again, such as on 34th Street or Broadway in NYC. NEVER have I seen an intersection in downtown Utica plugged with traffic stalled by a traffic light in the next block as they do in NYC.

[bobbbiez]

Clipper, I've asked that question many times about where monies received are going. Same answer all the time. Monies received by the city whether it be federal or from the state is only designated for those set projects and can not be transfered. You don't use it for such, you lose it.

[Clipper]

What can I say except the even if it is FEDERAL MONEY, it comes from WE THE TAXPAYERS, and maybe if towns, counties, states, and corporations were to LOSE some of it instead od USING it, we would not be paying out the ass for all the pork projects and maybe FEDERAL MONEY could be USED for those worthwhile and sensible projects like paving potholed riddled streets and replacing antiquated traffic signal lights. Either would put people back to work and stimulate those jobs that produce the products or furnish the labor that would be used.

[bobbbiez]

You should run for an office and really shake up those who make these decisions. I agree with you but it's never going to happen. If Utica doesn't use their funding then Rome as usual will likely not refuse and benefit from our loss. That is the way it is.

[chris]

They just built a roundabout in our neighborhood (on the way to Seabreeze on 590N) My advise use Culver Rd. I hate roundabouts.

tinyurl.com/6g9gjwe

[clarencebunsen]

I would agree with Clipper. Gridlock implies a grid full of cars and not being able to advance from your section to the next because the next section is full of cars unable to advance.

It does not imply waiting to exit the DD parking lot while the driver on Plant Street tries to figure out which way to go around the monument in order to get to Genesee Paint.

[dgriffin]

Well, it looks pretty, but the artwork doesn't include much traffic. I haven't been around Utica during commuting hours in a number of years, but there must be more traffic during that time. If there is any on-street parking neaer the Square, I imagine it will be lost when the roundabout is built.

From what I've read ... and I believe it ... compared to larger "traffic circles ... roundabouts are safer because they slow down traffic and the numbers show less accidents in roundabouts. But if you slow down a given amount of traffic there will be lines of slowed down cars and trucks entering the roundabout and the interior will necessarily congested with vehicles.

I mention this because the scene pictured above appears rather idyllic and suggests a village-like atmosphere with shoppers darting into stylish boutiques and later ordering baguettes at the counter of a pastry shop to take outside to a small table in the shadow of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument as it overlooks the .... roundabout. Our shopper might want to plan to stay for supper, because walking around or through the area might be a bit tougher than it was before it was a roundabout.

So much for aesthetics. If Oneida Square is already lost to the possibility of anything other than fast moving commuter traffic, then what the area looks like doesn't matter much and statistically the roundabout is a good idea. If Oneida Square is to be a restoration of Downtown America (or wherever), city planners might want to figure out how they will accomplish that together with traffic congestion.

Re money: yeah, you'd think the dollars for this could do more good elsewhere.

[Clipper]

Any reference to traffic flow in Utica cracks me up. There was a time when there was a concentration of industry along broad street, CP and UNIVAC pouring out onto Bleecker at quitting time, French Rd congesting French Rd for 15 minutes or so, but those days are gone. I remember waiting for my dad to get out of work at CP in the 50's and traffic would be like the indy 500 down Bleecker St. to Culver Ave. If you were late getting there, you had better wait until after the rush to try and go East past the Masonic home, lol.

I can't see any reason for concern about traffic any more in a city without industrial concentrations and industrial districts, and a city small enough that even if you drove only slowly, you could most likely drive from Charlestown to Whitesboro in less than 20 minutes. It's kinda like this. If ya don't like driving up Genessee, take Sunset Ave or the Arterial. Going from N Utica to New Hartford? Spend 20 minutes going up Genny or 5 going up the Arterial. If ya don't like the traffic on Bleecker, jump on up and take Rutger. It's not like there are not alternate routes available in that little town. It's not like here in Bristol, where we have a mountain down the middle of town. We have to drive 3 miles up into town, and three miles back down the other side of town to get to Walmart, when if we could just jog over the mountain we are only about 1/2 mile from there as the crow flies and we have only one major route to get there because of the topography.

I have to feel badly for my old hometown when I see all these big city ideas and concerns in a town with a small town budget and dwindling population. Sad but true. I love Utica, but there are many things needed more than a traffic circle and another park. Hanna is dead people. Let's work on infrastructure for a while, and put the lipstick on the pig later. Industry isn't going to flock to the city because you have a nice traffic roundabout and another little park for the taxpayers to pay for the maintenance of. Not to mention that the plan looks like it takes a significant bite out of the commercial area of the square.

[bobbbiez]

I saw the original plans tonight at a meeting and other then having to go around the circle not much will change in the form of congestion. If anything it will improve the flow of traffic. Genesee St in that area had three traffic lights in that section that did back up traffic anyways.

[clarencebunsen]

Dave,

I think that's a fairly accurate representation of rush hour traffic in mid-town Utica. I drove Genesee St from the Adirondack Bank in South Utica to downtown only a few months ago. Since I was able to see 2 or 3 traffic lights ahead for most of the journey I was able to time my arrival at controlled intersections and was stopped at only 9 of the 19 lights. A couple times there was another car waiting at the light with me and 2 or 3 times there was cross traffic.

I'm not sure if you want to order baguettes at DD, the pizza place or the Chinese place. I don't think they have them at the Food Pantry.

Who needs cost/benefit analysis when we have a leader with vision?

[Clipper]

Backed up traffic? How often have you had to wait for more than one light to get through the square? How often have you been stopped at the corner of Eagle St because the light at Oneida Square was red? Backed up in Utica means that there are 10 cars waiting for a light. The only traffic flow that I can see being improved in the city is that traffic flow on the North South Arterial to ease the flow and make it move along a little smoother.

[bobbbiez]

Plenty of times during rush hours with traffic coming from all directions on the square and plenty of fender-benders for that reason.

[dgriffin]

So, if we all agree that Utica doesn't have any traffic these days and there's no need for much of traffic control, it would probably be cheaper to sell all the traffic lights, save their yearly maintenance costs and replace them with stop signs. Then, CB, you can race up Genesee St. and not have to coast the lights. Ralph should probably look into baguettes, but probably not outdoor tables.

[bobbbiez]

Ah, Ralph doesn't work at that DD's.