NORTH SALEM, N.Y. - Heads up, motorists!
A stretch of Route 22 in the town of North Salem is slated for closure due to a planned culvert replacement project.
Traffic on the state road near Valeria Circle has already been reduced to one lane.
Town Supervisor Warren Lucas this week announced via social media that the state Department of Transportation has told him that Route 22 will be completely closed at that spot “within two weeks, if all goes well” and will likely stay that way until the end of November.
Halston Media reached out to the NYSDOT’s Region 8 public information officer who would only confirm that things are in the “planning stages.”
“NYSDOT will keep the public informed as the project progresses,” the PIO said.
According to Lucas, the culvert is “collapsing.” The structure carries the road over the stream from Candlewood Lake.
(Yellow lines on the map show the area where the culvert is and the proposed locations of “Road Closed” signs. The red encircles the one-lane bridge that will be closed, with the exception of local traffic.)
The town is currently waiting for a detour plan from the DOT.
Promising to post that as soon as it’s available, Lucas warned that “there’s no way to sugarcoat this, it will be very difficult for people living north of this closure on Route 22 to go south on I-684 without going north to the Purdys exit.
(Think folks who live in the Salem Chase development off Whip Mill Lane, and those who live on Pinegrove Drive and Whittier Hills Drive.)
To add to the list of woes, the DOT’s Region 8 traffic safety and operations investigator has advised the town that it needs to close Morris and Valeria Roads “to all but local traffic” for the project’s duration because one-lane bridge on Valeria Circle “will be unable to support the traffic” generated by drivers trying to circumvent the closure site.
The town’s Highway Department will put up two “Road Closed” signs at the access points on Nash Road and Route 22.
Lucas plans to alert Google, owner of Waze, a GPS navigation app for drivers that provides real-time traffic updates and road hazard alerts, so it knows which roads will be off limits.
More information is expected to be released from the town, said Lucas, adding that he suspects “the dates may move a bit as the DOT prepares to contract for the work.”
Two aging culverts were recently replaced by the DOT in the nearby town of Somers – on Routes 202 and 100.
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