Lifetime Citizen Portal Access — AI Briefings, Alerts & Unlimited Follows
Advisory board agrees to back WheelFind driveway after DOT denial; will send letter to resident engineer
Loading...
Summary
After a presentation by WheelFind’s project representative, the advisory board voted to prepare a letter supporting a driveway on Grand Island Boulevard and to forward the draft to the town attorney and other advisory boards; NYSDOT had denied the driveway twice under its access policy.
The Grand Island Traffic Safety Advisory Board voted April 14 to prepare and send a letter supporting a driveway request by WheelFind for a proposed service center on Grand Island Boulevard after hearing technical testimony from the project's representative.
Jim Daigler, representing the WheelFind project, told the board that the planning board approved the site plan but that NYSDOT has denied a driveway twice under what Daigler cited as DOT policy 5 8.4 (which allows the department to restrict access when it would be detrimental to safety or operation). "They have told me that twice," Daigler said, and described providing additional analyses to demonstrate the design meets safety requirements.
Daigler presented engineering details including a 60-foot wide mountable driveway with a 33-foot radius, a 75-foot throat for stacking, swept-path turning diagrams for a single-unit 30-foot truck and stopping sight-distance figures (he cited 495 feet at a design speed of 55 mph). He said peak‑hour estimates for the new facility would be low (about a dozen exits and a handful of entries) and that the driveway separation distances exceed DOT minimum recommendations in his measurements.
Several board members raised safety concerns about the boulevard and nearby congested intersections, and one member recommended initially approving one driveway and adding a second later if needed. Daigler said business visibility and customer access were "critical" to the owner and pushed for local support from the advisory board. Chair said the board would draft a letter and vote on a resolution that evening.
Later in the meeting the board voted to send the drafted letter to the resident engineer and to forward the resolution to the town attorney and other advisory boards for review and comment. The motion passed by roll-call vote.
Next steps: the advisory board will provide its letter of support to the resident engineer and the draft will be reviewed by the town attorney and returned to advisory boards before any formal action by the governing board.
