Letter to the Editor: A Traffic Study is Needed to Consider the Impact of Development at Freightway

This letter to the editor was submitted by Don Friedman of Garth Road
12.23.2019
Dear Neighbors,
We residents of Eastchester and Scarsdale share many things in common. We are citizens of Westchester County, New York, we share the same weather, utilities, water and all of the other “catastrophes of suburban living”.

We share the same roads and rail road station in Scarsdale; and here is where it becomes a bit of rough road.

I’m talking about traffic, parking, and the roads that bind us: Post Road, Scarsdale Avenue, Garth Road, East Parkway, and Popham/Ardsley Road.

Traffic is about to become much more difficult.

The Village of Scarsdale is in the discussion phase with two finalists that have bid to redevelop the land and building owned by the village of Scarsdale. Both sides of the Rail Road tracks, and the air rights (space) over the tracks south of Popham Road.

To my knowledge there has been no hiring of a licensed Traffic Engineer to determine the impact of what is under consideration: to include: apartments, parking, and retail. (see what has been posted on scarsdale10583.com.)
I don’t believe the police chiefs of Scarsdale, Eastchester and Greenburg have met on the issue of the impact on traffic or any other issue of the proposed development. Yet the slightest road work, utility repair, or accident cause traffic to back up into the adjacent village.

I ask you, my neighbors, have you not missed a traffic light on the above roads?

Are there no vacant stores in our two villages that we need more stores?

Is the housing supply so tight that we need more housing? Are you satisfied with classroom density?

I suggest that all of the above concerns need more thought, discussion and involvement by all who are concerned with these issues in a neighborly way.

First, we need a licensed Traffic Engineer to tell us what we will live with going forward on the roads that bind us together.

Sincerely,

Don Friedman
155 Garth Road, (Eastchester)
Scarsdale NY 10583
646-831-6444