“Three people were sent to the hospital over the weekend after a tragic crash along State Route 85 here in Bethlehem. The specific section of Route 85 where this accident occurred, unfortunately, has a grim history of serious crashes and fatalities,” said David DeCancio, a member of the Bethlehem Town Board.
“This part of the road of 85, I call it like, ‘a lane reduction funnel – it goes from a four lanes to a two lanes’. And sadly, this history was repeated yet again, with another tragic crash that actually closed the highway for four hours this weekend,” DeCancio said. “This underscores a long-standing pattern of danger that requires immediate action by the state. In my opinion, these ongoing concerns have been built up over like the last, I'd say, about almost 10 years at least. You know, over like, two dozen crashes along this stretch.”
DeCancio added: “It's pretty clear that there's a fundamental roadway design problem in traffic flow on 85 that requires intervention. Fact is, the state is responsible for the road design, and that's why I called on them. I urged the Department of Transportation to treat this as a top priority.”
WAMC asked: “If you could explain, David, specifically, what you think the State Department of Transportation could do to remedy this problem on route 85?
“You know, what I've called for them, is to immediately develop and implement a safety improvement plan for Route 85 specifically focusing on the two lane section here in the town of Bethlehem, going in both directions,” DeCancio said. “I also feel that the state Department of Transportation needs to prioritize funding for the engineering and infrastructural changes that are needed to keep all these travelers safe. What I think they need to do is conduct an expedited safety assessment of the corridor, release those findings online, but also provide short term and long term safety measures, implement an interim improvement plan, and also engage all the stakeholders here together, so we can, as a community, state, local government, and then, like I lastly said, prioritize funding to make this possible before we have another tragic incident. You know, I keep asking this, how many more lives need to be devastated before the state steps in and does something to make this route safer for everyone?”
WAMC: “Have your constituents spoken to you about this? Or has there been any conversation on the Bethlehem Town Board about this particular stretch of roadway?”
And DeCancio responded: “There are, there's a lot of concerns about this roadway among residents in Bethlehem, but also in the city of Albany. You know, because this is a thoroughfare that people go to, to go to the state campus, back to town, to the hospitals, and back and forth to work, to go on vacation when you want to go, you know, during the holidays, as people are going on now, there have been conversations before in the past, and I feel that, but it just kind of dies off,” DeCancio said. “I know there's a lot of finger pointing. I know people often talk about speed is a factor that needs to do more enforcement. I agree with that. Enforcement is one of the tools that can be used. But the fact is, road design has a lot to do with speed. You know, if you design a road a certain way, you can do traffic calming measures that will actually reduce speeds. And that's up to the road design. And since this is a state highway that is 100% the responsibility of the state, not the town.”
And WAMC asked: “What do you expect is going to happen next? Have you heard back from the state Department of Transportation, or are you intending to bring any sort of resolution about this to the town board in the town of Bethlehem?”
DeCancio’s answer:“I only sent the letter earlier this morning, so, you know, I expect to hear back. They're always very responsive, but I think the time is long overdue to do something with the issues that are continually happening here. In the last two years alone, we've had a couple of fatalities, serious crashes, like something needs to happen, and it needs to happen now. So I'm hopeful that state, county, local governments are going to get together here, and we're going to do something here, because if we don't, we're not doing our jobs, which is keeping people safe.”
