6/3/25 Update: Final Route 9 Meeting & Party

6/4 is Final Route 9 Meeting

The State Department of Transportation is holding a public meeting to show the results from the preliminary engineering phase of the Route 9 Complete Streets Project:

June 4, 2025
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Mercy Hall Rotunda, Mercy University
555 Broadway, Dobbs Ferry, NY
Map: https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/12154315754

After-party!

Piccola
23 Cedar St, Dobbs Ferry, NY
8:20-ish pm to 9:30-ish pm
(Everyone welcome)

Some Improvements, Several Setbacks

While the designs being shown on June 4th are the final ones for this phase, they are still just preliminary designs. If / when a segment moves to final design for construction, details can be tweaked. While some positive changes were made since the meetings in September, the engineering team's devotion to outdated design guidelines means there is plenty that needs improvement.

The project's goals are excellent, like providing "safe, reliable and comfortable corridor for people of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds," including "convenient crossings and consistent facilities to connect communities for all users." That's not what the State DOT delivered for the 9 mile long project. Here are key problems to raise at the meeting and/or in your emails:

• Narrow (5 foot) sidewalks in several downtown areas. Worse, in multiple locations, these narrow sidewalks are squeezed between parked cars and walls!
• Most intersections lack crosswalks
• Only a few pedestrian refuge islands
• A few raised crosswalks
• Sidewalks go down to street level at driveways and side streets
• Where dedicated bike lanes exist, they're just paint, offering no protection (and making the driving lane feel wider so people drive faster)
• In many spots, the cycling facilities end before reaching schools and downtowns, leaving the brave to ride with motor vehicles (in wide lanes that encourage people to drive fast), while most people remain too scared to bike at all
• Street trees are removed in downtown areas

Village Feedback on Prior Draft

Below is what three villages had to say on the September draft. Most of what they say is still relevant.

Sleepy Hollow: https://route9active.org/doc/route-9-complete-streets-feedback-sleepy-hollow-tpc-2024-12-03.pdf

Tarrytown: https://route9active.org/doc/route-9-complete-streets-feedback-tarrytown-2025-01-31.pdf

Irvington: https://route9active.org/doc/route-9-complete-streets-feedback-irvington-2025-01-27.pdf

If You Can't Come

In case you can't make it to the June 4th meeting, wait until the day after the meeting, then...

a) If you want to see what the DOT is proposing, go to their website (https://www.dot.ny.gov/route9completestreets/reports) for renderings and engineering drawings. (We are saying to wait until after the meeting because that is when they will post the current drawings.)

b) Send an email to the DOT: route9completestreets@dot.ny.gov

Bike to the Meeting from Sleepy Hollow

We are hosting a group ride to the meeting (via the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail). They will also go to the after-party, then bike home. (Of course, you can go home at any point on your own via bike or train.)

Meet at 5:00 pm on June 4 Washington St entrance of Patriots Park Must have front and back lights if biking home with the group

Transit Directions

Train: Take Metro North (Hudson Line) to the Ardsley-on-Hudson station. Upon getting out of the station, turn right, walk up the hill and enter the campus path via the gate on the right.

Bus: Ride the Bee-Line bus 1T or 1W to the Mercy University stop on Broadway. BUT, these bus lines shut down before the meeting is over.

Flyers

English: https://route9active.org/doc/route-9-complete-streets-final-meeting-flyer-en.pdf

Spanish: https://route9active.org/doc/route-9-complete-streets-final-meeting-flyer-es.pdf