Archive: News

Village of Lansing officials say the $815,000 Triphammer repaving project is nearing completion.  Village officials say the traffic flow has been generally good and they have even received some compliments on keeping traffic moving during the paving.  Superintendent of Public Works John Courtney said Monday that all paving and striping will be complete by mid-next week.

"I'm hoping to have the striping done by Wednesday of next week," Courtney said.  "But if we get a little bit of rain, that's not good for striping.  The epoxy striping is very sensitive to rain and it can really throw the works out of sequence."

In general traffic has been kept moving, but some delays were inevitable.  At one point traffic was backed up from the mall intersection of Triphammer Road and Route 13 to Community Corners.  But Courtney told the Board of Trustees that the worst backup occurred last week when a man stopped a TCAT bus.  The man was refused entry onto the bus because he was behaving offensively.  Courtney said the man, who was staying at the Econo Lodge in the Triphammer Mall area, blocked the bus with his dog, backing up traffic all the way to the Village Hall.


"The guy was just being totally unreasonable, very offensive," Courtney told the Trustees.  "I told the police they had to turn on their lights and get here.  Two came and they had to physically remove him.  He was cited with resisting and disorderly conduct."

It has been nine years since the last major repaving of Triphammer Road in the Village.  Courtney said that a new polymer blacktop is expected to prolong the longevity of the road.  An additional $12,500 has been budgeted for  LED street lights.

Meanwhile, paving on Bush Lane began Monday, but was held up when the asphalt plants broke down in both Lansing and Waterloo.  Courtney said that letters have been sent to homeowners along the roadway to apprise them of the situation and what to expect.  He said that the road is popularly used as a bypass when traffic is stopped on Triphammer Road.  He warned that drivers should avoid the road for now.

The Village trustees started the process to transfer about $1.4 million from capital reserve funds and the general fund to pay for this year's road work.  $93,468 is to be taken out of the water reserve for the Bush Lane water project.  The Bush Lane water line project (road and storm sewer) accounts for $373,018.  $942,018 is to be moved for the North Triphammer Road reconstruction project.  That money was built up in anticipation of the current projects, which will not require additional taxes from village property owners.  The transfers are subject to permissive referendum.

Those transfers may also cover anticipated work on Northwood and Graham Roads, but there is some question as to whether that work can be done this season, because negotiations to convey those roads to the Village are ongoing.  Mayor Donald Hartill said both negotiations are going well, and he hopes they will be completed next month.

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