Parkway Gardens/Homes has a fascinating history --one of the largest middle class African communities in the USA -click on link
& Town Bd authorizes RFQ-to hire professional engineer/traffic consultant for sidewalk on Ft Hill (Underhill to Longview)
SLICE OF HISTORY LINK BELOW
Please click onto the link below –a fascinating slice of history written by Riley Wentzler and Felicia Barber
https://www.greenburghny.com/DocumentCenter/View/6547/Formed--By-Adversity-and--Held-Together-by-Faith-The-History-of-the-Parkway-Homes-_Parkway-Gardens-Community
TAKING THE NEXT STEPS TO IMPROVE PEDESTRIAN SAFETY ON FT HILL ROAD FROM UNDERHILL TO LONGVIEW
TOWN BOARD AUTHORIZED REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS—WE WILL HIRE PROFESSIONAL TRAFFIC ENGINEERING PLANNING CONSULTANT --SIDEWALK IS VERY POSSIBLE
At the February 26th Town Board meeting the Town Board approved a resolution authorizing the Department of Public Works to take the next steps that could lead to a sidewalk being built on Ft Hill Road from Underhill to Longview. We will be reviewing proposals from experienced engineering/planning consultants to determine how best to provide safe pedestrian travel.
The Town of Greenburgh strives to improve the sidewalk network for the safety of children,
parents and the public walking to and from schools, places of public transportation, and for
generalized neighborhood movement.
This Request for Qualifications (RFQ) is intended to help the Town select a qualified and
experienced Consultant to achieve the objectives outlined above. Within this RFQ, the
Consultant shall provide demonstrable experience in performing studies and analysis, which has
led to successful pedestrian infrastructure design and construction.
Based on several site walks by Town staff, as well as a site visit with Town Board members and
residents, common opinion is a sidewalk along Fort Hill Road could help pedestrians through the
neighborhood to access both Longview Drive and Underhill Road. However, many obstacles
along this span could limit the constructability of such a walkway including but not limited to the
curving nature of Fort Hill Road, present travel speeds, topography, and limited sight distances.
These significant challenges currently preclude the Town from proceeding directly to sidewalk
construction drawing preparation.
Professional Services Required
The goal of the feasibility study is to determine (1) the most practical way to establish safe
pedestrian travel through the study area (Fort Hill Road) from the intersections of Longview
Drive and Underhill Road; and (2) based upon the recommendation, the costs the Town would
expect to implement the recommended action. The goal of this RFQ is to select a consultant
with the best qualifications, in the opinion of the Town, to perform the analysis and offer creative
practical solutions, mindful of the economics and feasibility of any such solution. The desired
outcome of this phase of work is to have an actionable engineering-based concept plan that can
proceed directly to construction drawings and bidding process.
The Town requests qualifications of design professionals with the demonstrated experience in
solving pedestrian and vehicular travel conflicts for similarly situated roadways and
neighborhoods. The Consultant should include within the Proposal, a discussion of their
comprehensive approach to solving problems and performing studies of similar scope and nature
to achieve results.
Within this RFQ, the Consultant shall also demonstrate experience with obtaining Grants
through referencing similar projects in scope and nature and award experience. The Town is
interested in how Grants may help offset possible cost of implementing any solution.
The selected Consultant will interface with the Town through the office of the Town of
Greenburgh Commissioner of Public Works. All proposals shall assume that services will
commence upon award of the agreement to the selected Consultant, and shall terminate upon
completion of project reports and recommendations.
The Consultant should include a discussion concerning both vehicular and pedestrian safety, in
the context of the constraints along this span of Fort Hill Road. Possible actions for the
Consultant to consider may include converting a portion of Fort Hill Road to one-way and
potentially reducing the width of the needed vehicular travel-way to provide improved pedestrian
mobility. Alternatively, reduced speeds and enhanced signage should be considered to facilitate
safety improvements to this important traffic corridor. The Consultant should provide
information regarding other or additional actions they anticipate analyzing to enhance pedestrian
safety.
As the Town has coordinated with residents on a site walk for this portion of Fort Hill Road, and
coordinated with residents in identifying sidewalk priorities in the area, the Consultant may be
asked to perform public presentations and obtain public feedback. The Consultant should present
related experience in public presentations, and experience in obtaining public input in RFQ.
This section of Fort Hill Road is a portion of a network where additional future pedestrian safety
initiatives will occur. Responding Consultants should be aware that the Town, with public input,
is presently undertaking a Town-wide sidewalk/pedestrian prioritization study, which will
provide greater context to the desired future build-out of sidewalks, particularly in the vicinity of
the subject section of Fort Hill Road. That study is anticipated to be released as a draft in March
2020. Another highly relevant document, entitled, “Edgemont-Greenville Sidewalk Feasibility
Study, Town of Greenburgh NY,” is presently available on the Town’s website at the following
link:
https://www.greenburghny.com/DocumentCenter/View/6510/Greenburgh-Edgemont-Sidewalk-
Feasibility-Study_v2a
Those interested in submitting bids to the town must submit their bid by Friday March 13th at 2 PM to the Town Hall. The RFQ is posted on the Greenburgh town website: www.greenburghny.
If you have any questions, please call (914) 989-1580. If you know of qualified professionals who might be interested in submitting a bid please share.
The safety of pedestrians is of great importance to the Town Board and town staff. This location is among our highest priorities. We want to make this area safer for pedestrians.
PAUL FEINER