04/01/2024
The intersection of Neubig Road and Broadway Avenue closed Monday, May 13, right after Commencement weekend, creating a temporary inconvenience to create a much-needed, long-term improvement for pedestrians and vehicles.
Parts of Neubig, Broadway and Pashley Drive will be shut down for construction until July 5 while work is done to improve walking and vehicle safety, and to enhance the look of one of SUNY Cortland’s gateways to campus.
The intersection reconstruction is one of several major roadwork projects making getting around Cortland challenging. For information on all of them and the most recent updates, check the Crown City Rising website.
“We’re installing new traffic and pedestrian signaling and also raising the intersection, to be like a tabletop intersection,” said Lead Construction Manager Dillon Young of the university’s Facilities Planning, Design and Construction Office. “Raised intersections improve visibility of pedestrians and reduce traffic speed.”
Young said the intersection was due for an upgrade, and that more pedestrians from the Student Life Center has increased congestion in the area.
New turning lanes added to Neubig Road and Pashley Drive will let vehicles more easily get where they need to go.
“We see traffic queue up down to the Student Life Center and beyond at busy times of the day,” Young said. “We certainly expect those turn lanes to alleviate a lot of that back up in traffic.”
The crosswalks will be better placed, and a corner on Broadway coming from the Waterworks will have its sight lines to the intersection improved, he added.
On Pashley Drive, a second bus stop will be created across from Whitaker Hall, where an extended sidewalk will ease the amount of pedestrians cutting through the grass.
“Overall, it’s just a better layout,” he said.
New masonry walls and increased signage at the intersection will mark the intersection visually as an entrance to campus.
To accommodate construction, the parking lot at 29 Broadway Avenue has been closed until further notice. Other changes should be less impactful, thanks to an early start in March made possible by warm weather.
“I encouraged the contractor to get going, so we are trying to get as much work completed without significant interference to pedestrian traffic while classes are still in session,” Young said.
The $1.7 million Campus Intersection Improvement Project is scheduled to be completed by the end of this summer, with money from the New York State Construction Fund.
No other intersections are expected to need similar changes. Young noted that it’s SUNY Cortland’s only intersection with traffic signals that is shared with the city.
For any questions or concerns, contact Dillon Young at 607-753-5562 or by email.