Dear Putnam Valley Community:
There are several construction projects either underway or soon to begin around town and on our school property. Like all construction projects, we anticipate there will be some disruption before the benefits of these projects are realized.
Pudding Street Overpass on the Taconic State Parkway – This overpass is a welcome sight to many residents of the Roaring Brook community and our school district who have advocated for its construction for many years. School buses, carrying over 100 students, use a great deal of skill and patience to safely cross 4 lanes of high-speed traffic up to 16 times a day. Please note:
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You are no longer allowed to make a left-hand turn at Pudding Street, this includes both northbound and southbound traffic.
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Blasting is expected to begin this week between 10 am and 2 pm. Traffic will be closed on the TSP in both directions during blasts; they anticipate a road closure of 15 minutes for each blast.
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We anticipate that the Pudding Street crossing will be closed to all traffic from May 2021 until the bridge opens in July 2021. The district has already begun working on a transportation plan for the impacted time of the school year.
Middle School/High School Dismissal – Over the past two years, we have made substantial changes to our school arrival process while keeping dismissal relatively unchanged. In anticipation of a new traffic pattern during our construction project, the time is right to improve how we dismiss our buses and how we handle the student, staff, and parent traffic on campus during dismissal. Buses have a very tight turnaround time to return to the Elementary School for dismissal and must be given priority to exit the campus. Please keep an eye out for more detailed information on how we hope to improve our dismissal process.
If you are picking your children up from the Middle School or High School at the end of the day on a daily or regular basis, we would like your feedback. Please click here.
PVCSD Facilities Project – We anticipate breaking ground on our facilities project in early spring. The project will begin with the establishment of construction staging areas behind the High School gym and in the Middle School parking lot outside the cafeteria. A temporary road will be built off of the existing driveway for construction access only.
School Districts and contractors are required by New York State to implement protocols and procedures to ensure the safety of students and staff. Each of the construction areas will be surrounded by construction fencing; no students or staff will have access to these construction areas. To maintain separation of construction areas and occupied spaces, contractors will not have access to academic or common areas of the building during the school day and separate corridors will be constructed if needed. All workers will be required to wear photo identification at all times. Throughout the construction project, temporary and emergency egress will be maintained to allow for a safe exit from the building when needed.
The staging area outside of the Middle School will result in the loss of some parking spaces and will require a revised traffic pattern around the campus. We have been closely tracking the number of available parking spaces during different times of the day and remain confident that we will have enough staff parking during the day. Parking for special events and activities will remain a challenge.
Upcoming work on Peekskill Hollow Road – We do not yet have an anticipated start date for this project, but we know that Peekskill Hollow Road is scheduled for some upgrades. These upgrades include the creation of left hand and right hand turning lanes into the MS/HS campus. Although we anticipate some disruption during this construction project, this upgrade should help alleviate some of our traffic issues into and out of the MS/HS campus.
Some of this work will certainly push us out of our comfort zones. Let’s accept these challenges and keep our sights on the benefits of these projects when they are complete.
Sincerely,
Dr. Jeremy Luft
Superintendent of Schools