SCHENECTADY — A pair of Woodlawn residents who have been advocating for traffic safety measures along Kings Road expressed disappointment following the presentation of a traffic study during last Monday’s city council meeting that resulted in traffic engineer Fred Mastroianni recommending that the city not lower the speed limit along the road.
In August 2022, state legislation was passed that allowed municipalities to lower speed limits along local roads to as low as 25 mph.
Kings Road residents Kevin Brown and Tracey Collins have been advocating since April for the city to install stop signs along the road and to potentially lower the speed limit along the corridor.
The city has been weighing a potential lowering of the speed limit along Kings Road from 30 mph to 25 mph, with City Engineer Chris Wallin consulting with the state Department of Transportation on the matter.
As part of the state process, Mastroianni studied speeding data along Kings Road, utilizing city sensors placed along the roadway.
Mastroianni noted that approximately 20,000 vehicles traverse Kings Road every day, with the data showing that the 85th percentile speed, which measures the speed that 85 percent of cars on the road travel at or less, is between 32 and 34 mph.
“In traffic engineering, that’s one of the critical factors that we use for road redesign, traffic signs and so on,” Mastroianni told the council.
Mastroianni, the Principal Engineer of FCM Engineering, told the council during its Monday meeting that he could not recommend lowering the speed limit along Kings Road.
“When I looked at that road under its current condition, as a traffic engineer I can’t recommend any less than what’s out there now,” he said. “So I don’t recommend going to 25, I recommend keeping it at 30.”
The city plans to install a crosswalk across Kings Road outside of Collins’ property on the corner of Queen Philomena Boulevard and Kings Road, a measure that Collins believes will be insufficient to slow cars down along the road.
“The crosswalk isn’t going to stop the traffic,” Collins said after Monday’s meeting. “It’ll help people get across, but people will just keep speeding through there like it’s the Daytona 500.”
Collins, who placed large boulders on the lawn outside his home to ward off vehicles plowing into his yard after several incidents of property damage from wayward cars, has requested that the city place a guardrail outside his property, which is located along a curve in Kings Road.
Brown said that he was exasperated that after months of advocacy that the city was not taking more action regarding Kings Road speeding.
“I’m extremely frustrated,” Brown said after Monday’s meeting. “We’ve been at this for six months. I understand and respect the studies that they have to do, but at the end of the day, [Collins] and I are living this, no matter what their studies say. We’re seeing different results and different activity out there.”
Collins said on Friday that since the Monday night meeting he had been contacted by council members Carl Williams, Carmel Patrick and Doreen Ditoro, with Ditoro visiting Collins’ property on Wednesday in person to get a firsthand look at the speeding situation.
Patrick told Collins that the city is looking into placing signage on the road to encourage compliance with the 30 mph speed limit.
“Clearly there’s a problem over there as well as throughout the city,” Patrick said on Friday. “We get complaints from residents all the time from across the city about speeding and traffic issues. What I spoke to Mr. Collins about is that I’m not going to give up on solving some of the issues that the residents there are facing.”
Wallin said that the crosswalk will be installed in the near future.
“We’ve already done the mark out and it’s going to start in two weeks,” Wallin said following Monday’s meeting. “It’ll probably take a week to two weeks to complete.”
Wallin said that improved striping on the roads and the potential addition of trees lining Kings Road could result in motorists reducing their speeds when traversing the roadway.
“So you can put a tree but you can’t put a stop sign or a yield sign?” Brown asked following Monday’s meeting. “I’m blown away by that. That’s just another target for them to hit.”
Schenectady Mayor Gary McCarthy said that the city has received complaints in numerous neighborhoods regarding speeding.
“We’re looking to deploy these things and see what is effective,” he said on Friday. “It’s not only Kings Road, it’s sites across the city. So we’re trying these things in incremental fashion and see what works.”
Wallin said following Monday’s meeting that he does not see a path for the speed limit to be lowered to 25 mph along Kings Road, but the speed limit on additional city streets could still be studied upon the request of the city council.
“I heard what the engineer and our team said, but I think we definitely have to try and find out what we can do to solve some of these issues,” Patrick said. “It may not be reducing the speed limit, although I’m certainly not going to give up on that. I don’t think we’re going to be able to reduce the speed limit across the city, I don’t think that’s necessary. But I still think we need to continue to look for those parts of the city, even by 5 mph, might help us control some of the speeding issues.”
Collins, who has placed signs outside his property urging motorists to slow down, said he will continue to press for safety improvements on Kings Road and that he has no plans to move from his Woodlawn home.
“Why should we have to leave?” Collins asked on Friday. “It should be the city’s responsibility to keep everybody in the neighborhood safe.”