Archive: Business & Technology

The feeling was jubilant as officials, engineers, and contractors gathered at the Village of Lansing Office last Friday for a ribbon cutting to officially mark the completion of the Triphammer Road reconstruction project.  Village Trustees, planning board members, County Legislator Dooley Keefer, and Town Supervisor Steve Farkas were among 30 guests who joined Mayor Don Hartill to celebrate the completion of a project that was more than 15 years in the making.  "It has really transformed the Village," said Hartill.


Hartill says the project began in the late '80s, when the Village began a design study that resulted in a project they deemed too expensive.  When engineer Kim Jacobs learned the Village might be eligible for federal highway funding the project took on new life.  Following the advice of New york State Department Of Transportation officials, the Village split the project with half north of the Route 13 bridge, and the other half to the south.  But when it came time to score projects to determine which would get funding, neither had enough points.

"We did a little math on the side," recalls Deputy Mayor Larry Fresinski.  "It worked out that if you put the two programs together, as we had initially submitted, it actually met the criteria.  As the gavel was coming down I raised my hand, and said, 'According to the calculations based on your criteria the Village of Lansing's program should meet the required minimum to be accepted for the transportation improvement program.'  And it actually got accepted."


Fresinski says it could have cost a lot more.  Triphammer was in bad shape, but it was at least two years before the project could be funded and begun.  "That half mile business section would have cost the Village about a million dollars," he says.  The Village contracted to put temporary layers on the road to hold it together for a year, but due to an engineering error it had to be done a second time at the contractor's expense.  "And that allowed it to last an extra year to get us into the construction season for the new project," Fresinski says."

With decorative street lights, bicycle paths, crosswalks, and trees, the project has transformed the look of the Village business section as well as improving traffic.  "The whole idea was to create a village identity," Fresinski says.  "When you enter the Village of Lansing we want you to know that you're here.  And it's so startlingly different you will also know when you're leaving."


"It was an exceptional project," says Fisher Associates Project Manager Rich Brauer.  "They had a vision of what they wanted the day we met with them.  When you have somebody who has a clear sense of purpose about what they want, it makes it very easy to execute it for them."  Project Designer Craig Perkins says the final result looks as he pictured it.  "I'm really happy with the way it came out," he says.  "I think people are going to love having the sidewalks here.  It's going to be a different atmosphere for people."

Not everything went smoothly.  The project was held up as the Village waited for NYSEG to move telephone poles and other utilities to move equipment under the road.  "Project Manager Denny Bilodeau had infinite patience as far as I could tell, that put up with NYSEG not moving their poles in time, and so on and so forth," Hartill says.  Village Engineer Dave Putnam says, "It wasn't unexpected, but it's something you hope wouldn't happen."  But officials say that pushing the project into a second construction season allowed them to enlarge it in the area around the bridge.

Hartill says that Bilodeau  did a good job of keeping traffic flowing during the construction.  "That was part of the design process," Hartill says.  "We wanted to make absolutely sure that we could maintain reasonable traffic flow.  I witnessed the Route 13 episode near Walmart and K-mart in the City of Ithaca, and I didn't want to repeat that."




Officials say that few people complained about traffic holdups, and that many have told them they are pleased with the new road.  "What we're seeing is that for the first time people are using the sidewalks, pushing baby carriages and whatnot," Fresinski says.  "Just what we expected the whole walkway system to be used for.  We're pretty excited about the safety factor this brings to the residents, that they feel comfortable walking up and down their new streetway."

The result is a much smoother traffic flow and better accesses to the malls and businesses, with as many as seven lanes near Pyramid Drive that allows through traffic and turn lanes into the Pyramid and Cayuga malls.  Hartill says he has been assured that street lights will be hooked up before Christmas, and that a few 'punch list' items like crosswalks, three stone walls, and plantings will be completed soon.


Everyone went out to the road and while the ribbon was held taught, Hartill, Fresinski,  Putnam, Perkins, and Bilodeau cut it, to appreciative applause.  They then went inside for a pizza party, where many recalled the hard work that led up to the project.  "My favorite part has been working with the people," Hartill said, as many of the people he worked with helped him celebrate.  "I'd do it again if I had to, and I'm really pleased with the result."

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