U.S. Route 3 Port Ontario, New York
The Project: U.S. Route 3 runs north-south between the shore of the east end of Lake Ontario and Interstate 81 in New York State. Route 3 is a two-lane rural highway, which passes through many old downtowns and small villages.
Location: Ontario, New York
Context Setting: Rural
Road Classification: Rural Arterial
Stakeholders: NYSDOT, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; New York State (NYS) Department of Environmental Conservation; U.S. EPA; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; NYS Department of State; Oswego County Planning Department; Eastern Shore Salmon River Corridor Fisheries Committee; Cornell Cooperative Extension; town of Richland; and Oswego County’s Promotion and Tourism, Highway Department
The Process: The purpose of the project was to improve safety and accessibility by replacing two bridges over the mouth of the Salmon River along with intersection improvements, accommodation of pedestrian and bicyclists, and general improvements to geometric standards. There was direct community involvement in the early stages of the project, but especially from business owners on both sides of the river in Port Ontario
An important turning point for the community was the elimination of the design alternative that would have replaced the bridges on the existing alignment using temporary structures and interfering with traffic and therefore the community economy.
Lessons Learned: A wide range of sensitive issues were addressed as a part of the design of the project.
The business owners and community members wanted the old bridge to stay in place until the new bridge was ready. The community also raised a traffic safety issue regarding the intersection sight distance That was not known to Dot at the start of the project. This resulted in the scope of the project being extended.
A bicycle and pedestrian demand was known to exist, given the tourism in the area. The final project has sidewalks and good quality bikeways.
A more detailed description of this project is available online at: http://128.163.152.205/csd/PDF/CSD4Route3NY.pdf
