Henry Street, which extends from Broadway to Wall Street, is slated to get a facelift.
The existing sidewalks, a patchwork of asphalt, concrete and historic bluestone, will be replaced on both sides of the street with new six-foot-wide concrete ones. Details of the revised plan were presented at a public meeting on December 16 by city grants manager Kristen Wilson and Amanda Joy of the design consultant firm GPI.
Besides new sidewalks, the project includes repaving of the street—currently in rough condition—and new road markings and signs for bicyclists; new ADA-compliant curb ramps at each intersection; a raised intersection at Henry and Wall, which is located in front of the George Washington Elementary School, designed to slow traffic and discourage parking by motorists, who tend to clog up the intersection; new red bump-outs at the intersection of Henry and Clinton, also designed to slow traffic and make the crossing safer for pedestrians; and a bicycle shelter at the school, for use by the elementary school students as well as the general public.
However, some questions remain about the fate of some of the trees along the road, which may be negatively affected by the decision to relocate the utility poles to the north side of the street. Our inquiries on that subject went unanswered this week because city hall is closed. We’ll update the story when we hear back.
Several streetscape projects happening
The Henry Street Improvement Project, as it’s called, is one of several infrastructure upgrades to sidewalks and streets designed to make the city more pedestrian- and bicyclist-friendly. It’s being funded by a $1.3 million “Safe Routes to School” grant from the New York State Department of Transportation and $337,000 of city money, is one of several infrastructure upgrades to sidewalks and streets designed to make the city more pedestrian- and bicyclist-friendly. They include the Better Broadway Project, the new DOT-funded Roundabout at the intersection of Broadway, Albany Avenue, and 587, both of which are well underway, and new concrete sidewalks planned for Franklin Street. Collectively, the projects represent an investment of over $21 million, almost all of which consists of state grants, with the city contributing $1.15 million.
“Henry Street is a critical piece of our Safe Routes to School initiative, which started a few years ago,” Mayor Steve Noble said during the presentation, which was attended by several other city officials and GPI staff. It’s “a main route for hundreds of school children…For them to be able to have new sidewalks and new street trees and [create] a safe passageway for all is a critical goal.”
The project’s goals are fourfold: improving the existing pedestrian facilities for better mobility and safety, providing bicycle accommodations, creating safe ways for kids to access the school, and providing improvements that uphold and reinforce the historic nature of the corridor.
What it will look like
To save on costs, the current curb lines will be retained, explained design project manager Amanda Joy, as well as the two 11-foot-wide lanes and two seven-foot-wide parking areas. The new sidewalks are intended to serve slower cyclists along with pedestrians, while faster bicyclists would ride in the street, presumably more safely due to the new signage and street markings. Asked in the Q&A session following the presentation why a dedicated bike lane wasn’t part of the design, Wilson said parking on both sides of the street was needed due to the lack of off-street parking on the Clinton to Broadway stretch and the area’s plentiful apartments—at least that’s the feedback last year’s project advisory committee had gotten from residents. “If many residents would prefer to have a bike lane, we’d consider it,” she said.
One member of the public commented, “I like this design much better. It gives children 12 and under room to ride their bikes on the sidewalk. I haven’t found riding on the road to be troublesome outside of the bad pavement. The new pavement solves that problem.”
The existing sidewalks are four- to five-feet wide and the bluestone curbing varies in height and conditions, noted Joy. “There are signs, utility poles, hydrants and many other things in the green space,” she said, referring to the grass strips. “There are trees, retaining walls, buildings, porches and stairs or stoops as well as many landscape features…while these give the area character, it’s difficult to fit them in the alternatives.”
Bluestone to be removed
Both sides of the street currently have patches of historic bluestone sidewalk, some of it in good condition. Joy said some of the bluestone curbing could be repurposed in the re-landscaping of the grass strips.
Asked by two questioners (one of which was this reporter) whether the bluestone could be retained, Joy said no, given the cost of lifting the existing bluestone and having it be placed in the concrete, as would be required. “Even if a piece is in good condition, it’s difficult to reset,” she said. Bluestone is also more slippery in icy and wet conditions. Joy said all the removed bluestone will be sent to the city’s bluestone bank.
A similar project to replace the sidewalks on nearby Franklin Street with concrete will also result in the removal of more of the stone, although two blocks will be preserved because they border the Fair Street Historic District. (Bluestone is required to be preserved in the city’s historic districts, but nowhere else.) Wilson said should the public feel strongly about keeping the bluestone, it might be a possible to extend the district down to Henry and thus preserve a portion of the bluestone sidewalks. “We could provide a cost estimate and if the Common Council was interested in bonding more to install bluestone, this could be considered, although the cost can be significant,” she said.
Questions around trees
Trees are another issue of concern. New infrastructure often results in the removal of healthy existing trees. In this case, there are plans to plant shade trees along the road, but some of the specifications seem to suggest some existing mature trees might be removed or be subject to radical pruning to accommodate the relocation of utility poles.
Joy said the existing grass strips, which range from three to five feet wide, on either side of the street would be retained and planted with shade-height trees from Wall to Clinton. But from Clinton to Broadway, a much longer stretch of roadway, only the south side would be planted with shade trees because the utility poles, which are currently located on both sides of the street, would be consolidated on the north side, limiting the height of trees and allowing only shrubs and small trees to be planted there, she said. It’s unclear how it will be possible to keep the two mature maple trees on the north side of the street in a section where the plans call for only shrubs and small trees.
Asked whether existing trees on the north side of the street could be saved, Joy responded, “we’ve had residents say they’d like to keep the trees. We’ll try to work with the [existing] trees, but we have no control if Central Hudson were to come in and trim them afterwards.” Besides attempting to save existing trees, GPI plans to plant an additional 10 to 15 trees, a conservative estimate, Joy added.
Another challenge is the width of the grass strips. Joy said New York State guidelines require shade trees to be planted on grass strips at least five feet wide, but a visit to Henry Street with a measuring tape revealed that most of the grass strip on both sides of the street is narrower than that (and will be narrower still once the sidewalk is widened). The widest section—measuring five feet—is actually on the north side of the street in the Clinton-to-Broadway section, where Joy said the utility poles will be concentrated and hence limit tree planting.
Wilson said her office intends to reach out to the city’s Tree Commission, which hopefully can provide insights and solutions to these problems. “At the preliminary design stage, we will do more detailed analysis of those trees and what can be saved and what can’t,” said Wilson. “In between the advanced detailed plans and construction is when we would reach out to the Kingston Tree Commission, to recommend what types and species of trees we’d put in.”
Some other concerns
One participant asked if the raised intersection at Wall and Henry would conflict with truck-turning movements. “We’re making every effort to see the street is cleared,” answered Joy. “I’ve seen trucks navigate a raised intersection in practice with no issue.” Another asked if the underlying sewers might impact the project, to which Wilson responded by citing the opinion made by city engineer John Schultheis that the 20-foot-deep elderly sewer would be best left alone, with funding spent on “specific trouble areas.” In answer to another attendee’s question as to whether there would be a lot of construction noise, Joy said construction should take only a few months.
Public can comment
The city expects to complete detailed plans in February and submit construction plans to the DOT in March, following a comment and review period by the city, according to Wilson. The city will then advertise the project and select a contractor over the summer and begin construction in September, with the project completed a year later, in September 2022.
Wilson said that the plan was still in flux, and she encouraged members of the public to weigh in. “We’ll respond to all feedback received,” she said. “Public feedback could change the design.”
The public can submit comments by January 11, either through the Engagekingston.com site, which posts information about the project; by emailing Wilson at kwilson@kingston-ny.gov; or by snail mail (comments should be addressed to Grants Management, 420 Broadway, Kingston, NY 12401).
-Lynn Woods