Saw Mill River PKWY Flooding

[Guest]

Floods beset road, Pleasantville mayor

By SHAWN COHEN

THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original Publication: December 30, 2005)

PLEASANTVILLE — Many people just call it the Saw Mill, but anyone who drives along the north-south corridor through Pleasantville during a rainstorm knows it's the Saw Mill River Parkway — and that "River" is the operative word.

As rain fell, the river overflowed again yesterday, and water came pouring across the roadway, slowing traffic between the Marble and Manville avenue exits while threatening to close the parkway for the 25th time since 2003.

Pleasantville Mayor Bernard Gordon, who took a detour to avoid the snag on his way back from New York City, said he's grown so frustrated that he suggests erecting a barrier between the river and roadway. He sees this as a potential short-term solution to a problem officials have been wrestling with for years.

"I'm not focused on why it's flooding," said Gordon, standing near the Saw Mill yesterday as state Department of Transportation trucks blocked part of the roadway. "I just want to stop the flooding now until a long-term solution can be found."

The Army Corps of Engineers, with assistance from the state Department of Transportation, is now studying the issue and has told local officials that it could take 10 years or more to fix the problem.

Gordon said the barrier, which was designed by local engineer Fred Haetinger and would be about 200 feet long, could be built by the spring if the state decides to go forward with the plan.

In letters to county, state and federal officials, he called the floods and resulting closings a public safety threat that requires immediate attention. He said his community gets choked by rerouted traffic and it also affects residents and emergency crews that need to travel through central Westchester.

Robert Dennison, director of the DOT for the region, said the state is considering the town's proposal, but wouldn't say whether it will support it. One concern is that the barrier, by blocking water in one place, could create flooding in another, he said.

"When you change the dynamics of a flood plain, it's going to cause flooding someplace else," Dennison said.

He said the state has been working to find a solution for years and pointed out that Pleasantville officials rejected a 1993 state plan to raise the level of the Saw Mill River Parkway.

"They said no, and we didn't want to fight them," Dennison said.

Gordon said he's not willing to wait a decade or more for the next initiative.

"My objective is to get people focused on a temporary solution for Pleasantville," Gordon said. "And if it works, implement it. If it doesn't, tell me why and tell me what modifications can be made to make it work."

The county Department of Public Safety is planning to reroute traffic for the next road closing, hoping to ease pressure on Pleasantville by detouring traffic further north and south of the town.

Meanwhile, Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano is organizing a meeting of municipal, county, state and federal authorities to discuss flooding problems on the county's parkways.

[Oswegowind 17]

how about building a raised highway...or we could just ban rainfall to the area...

[Guest x2371]

The bigest problem when the parkway floods is the vollies getting to the fire house or the ambulance core. Once you have red lights you can ge through town. It can take up to 30 minutes to get from Mcdonalds to the fir house. (which is a 1 minute drive when the parkway is open

[dadbo46 50]

The problem is overdevelopment in the upper Saw Mill River basin forcing increased runoff into the small and shallow stream.

Local officials protest when solutions are proposed. In the case of the 1993 proposal from NYSDOT, which included the replacement of both the Bedford Rd. and Manville Rd. bridges, the locals suggested that the existing bridges were of historic architectural significance and, hence, rejected the proposal.

And time marches on.......and the river, and parkway, continues to flood.

Edited January 2, 2006 by dadbo46

[Guest]

....and, from the forecast, will flood again tomorrow w/shutdown.... :angry:

[Guest]

I would bet the river was there before the parkway was. Who's bright idea was it to build a Parkway next to a river. As for the wall the Mayor wants to build, he better check with his neighbors up river.

[Guest x2371]

Another reason was they just did a drainage job on Parkway field and they didn't want to make the field lower then the river because the field drains into the river

[BMFD409 0]

the saw mill floods if too many people talk about rain in the morning im not suprised its gonna take 10 years. for now im gonna do what iv been doing for 2 years avoid p'vill like the plauge.