I live across the street from the proposed Halfmoon Intermodal Rail project. My neighbors and I see the project as a good thing for the area. Sure it will add a lot of noise and light to our area, but it’s a good project and we all knew the yard might be activated again someday. What we don’t want is the entrance to the facility right in front of our homes. The railroad proposes to put the only entrance directly across from our homes on Route 67. Our proposal puts the entrance in front of a construction yard.
The developer of the site, Pan Am Southern, has stated this will be a 24 hours a day, 7 day a week operation. They say 80% of the traffic will be between 7 AM and 10 PM at night. Don’t get me wrong. We have traffic here. We just don’t want over 300 more trucks a day starting up and slowing down to a dead stop, fully loaded in front of our homes when a good alternative exists.
Here are the statistics presented to the Halfmoon Planning Board for the site traffic
334 truck trips a day,
Peak AM truck trips per hour 42 = Approx. 1 truck every 1 ½ minutes.
Peak PM truck trips per hour 33 = Approx 1 truck every 2 minutes.
Imagine what our properties will be worth with this going on EVERY DAY! Many of us have lived here for years and in some cases, generations. With the value of our property destroyed, how will we be able to afford to move anywhere?
We have identified a location about 100 feet west that is just as good of an entrance location. And there are no houses there! After proposing our location to the railroad, they said moving the location would not be feasible. We were told that to lay out the yard in the best manner and the additional environmental work required were the reasons. It was also stated that 80% of the truck travel would be headed west. This means we still get additional traffic, just not all of it.
We all live in the town of Stillwater. The project is in Halfmoon. Without the help and guidance of the Halfmoon Planning Board and supervisor Wormuth, we would be lost. They have been a HUGE help in giving us details and have always responded to our requests as best they can. Our town of Stillwater? Well, not so much. They never informed us of the bridge project, and when we called we were told the bridge would be west of us. If anything changed, they would let us know. That never happened. Only after each of us making several calls to the Town of Stillwater supervisor, he agreed to set up a meeting with the railroad for us. At the meeting, Supervisor Connelly stated that as we lived on a state road across from a former rail yard, we should expect something like this. Why were we not informed? He stated that they use a software program to identify automated calls to make for these things and since we were over 500 feet from the exact point they marked for the project, we were overlooked. Nice. I guess making sure your constituents are informed is low on the priority list. So here we are, way late on trying to get this thing moved. It seems that not one council member of the Stillwater town board was ever told of our meeting with Supervisor Connelly and the officials from Pan Am Southern. You would think that the supervisor would speak to the other town fathers when residents need help.
We don’t think we are asking a lot of them to move the bridge. Will it cost them some extra money in a multi-million dollar project? Perhaps. But instead of opposing the whole project, we are asking for so little.
If you wish an aerial view of the area, click on the link below and then click on satellite in the upper right hand corner of the map on the little map.
The proposed location for the bridge is 3 houses right of Creek / Devoe road. Just to the left of the (A) shows the construction yard where we propose the bridge be located.
How can you Help?
Do you have any tips or know of someone who can help? Contact us at movethebridge@nycap.rr.com
OR
Take a look at the map. See what we are proposing. If you want to lend a hand, write/call/ e-mail to any or all of the following and express your support. We are up against the Federal and local governments in this, so any help is greatly appreciated. Here's a link to a brief letter of support you can copy into the mail you send if you like.
Town of Halfmoon Planning Department Stephen Watts, Jr.- Building and Development Administrator 518-371-7410 Ext. 2601 swatts@townofhalfmoon.org Norfolk Southern Corporation