Three-car accident partially blocks Oak Street

Just about right outside my front door and I found out about it on here. I heard the sirens but didn't realize it was so close.

Wow ..Is that on the new two laned Oak Street....

Wow Beth, gotta turn up that hearing aide !

I do have to say, I live fairly close to this too (North St by Northside), I also heard the sirens but I didn't think twice of it, I hear sirens all the day around my house, but I did notice there was a lot of them coming at the same time.

Hope everyone's okay that was in the accident though.

this story is on thedailynewsonline.com and there is a picture as well

I still don't understand why the brilliant D.O.T. did not put up a light w/ left turn arrows off Oak onto Richmond.....I can't wait to see how many people will get rear ended now turning onto Mix Place from Oak....I think that is one of the most hazardous intersections in city- Mix/Prospect/Oak.....I better be quiet-they'll dream up a roundabout at that intersection next......

Somewhat unrelated... but has anyone seen a tractor trailer trying to go through the roundabout?

THEY CAN'T!!! (Without driving over all the curbs and center island.)

Apparently NO engineers thought about this? Rte 98 is a North/South route that connects to the thruway. Its only *slightly* important to truckers.

P.S. Are these the shovel ready jobs we needed?

Workers showing up with shovels in hand "ready" to stand around and watch. Why must there always be 15-20 workers standing around not doing anything.

Jason,
Maybe you'll be right, but don't you think you should wait until the thing is finished?

With construction, even a car has a hard time right now.

I am waiting to see what happens in the winter when they need to romove the snow from that round about !

Jason got it right ..I've been thru there twice, both times behind a truck..Both times like Howard said they had to use the truck lane with red bricks..lol..Speaking of shovel ready what happened to that $450,000 of VLT money we needed to spend to get shovel ready projects for streets and side walk repair..How many jobs did it create,I forgot..There was all this urgency to get something on paper,but still i haven't seen anything happening.Why doesn't the asst.city manager come out and tell us when these projects will be starting since she pushed for us to spend this $450,000..

Mark, that’s pretty short sighted thinking. We have numerous infrastructure problems that all need attention. Those designs were for several waterlines that are leaking our collective money into the ground. Whether we receive federal funding or not, the designs needed to be done before any work could be. A portion of your city tax bill and water bill is for infrastructure repairs, turning a blind eye to these problems doesn’t make them go away.

Jason, the roundabout is a state DOT project and they had an extensive study to determine what the intersection needed to be safe. That is exactly what they are building and paying for.

Well Charlie, to be completely frank - the DOT did a crappy job.

And I'm not questioning the roundabout's safety. It does appear to be quite safe. Not to mention, I haven't heard of many slow-speed roundabout deaths.

The issue is the short sighted planning and design. Fine for cars. CRAP for large vehicles.

Sit at the roundabout and wait for a semi to drive through and you'll see what I mean. It is IMPOSSIBLE for any large vehicle to navigate it. Period.

All of the curbs and infrastructure is in place. Still landscaping and fill to do, but unless they are putting a lane straight across the roundabout - they won't be able to solve the massive problem that semi's have going thru.

And I sure hope we didn't "pay" a lot for it, because I can think of dozens of better uses of our taxes. Sadly I doubt that's the case.

Just because we CAN spend money, doesn't always mean we SHOULD.

I just avoid the roundabout completely.

If I have to get on S. Main or 33, I'll go down Main Street and turn down River Street. In the rare case I have to get on 98, I'll take 63 to Jackson, then on to Law Street.

Give the roundabout a few years and a bunch of accidents. It'll get fixed eventually.

I attended a couple of meetings a few years ago to give my opinion as a truck driver on the round-about. I was told that this would hopefully get trucks to avoid using Batavia and get them back on the Thruway. I told them in 2004 my EZPass bill was about $2,000 a month for my rig. There has been increases since then. The only thing that would make me use the Thruway instead of a State road was a 13ft bridge. They don't get the concept that the Thruway is constructed to handle big trucks. State and County roads aren't built with a thick concrete base. Once again the State shows their short sightedness. Replace three times as many smaller roads three times more often then making the Thruway affordable. It's that endless cycle. Raise the toll rates to pay for replacing the smaller roads. If they just made it so trucks could afford the Thruway we would all endure less construction which would save time and gas, trucks would save time and fuel, less accidents would occur, and I could go on and on. The State would see less tax revenue on gas, less sales tax on tires and car repairs in general, again I could go on and on. If the State did things smartly and effeciently we would need them less. And the cycle goes on and on.....

I still maintain that the thruway should have truck-only lanes.
The purpose of truck-only lanes is to separate trucks from other mixed-flow traffic to enhance safety and/or stabilize traffic flow.
Unfortunately, very few truck-only lanes exist. Most states restrict trucks to certain lanes, but also allow all vehicles to use the same lanes - which, in my opinion, defeats the purpose.
I'm curious how far out of the way a trucker would have to go to use the thruway and not 98 to get from point A to point B in order to avoid driving through Batavia and not get mired in the new roundabout?
Also, just out of curiousity, aren't 98, 20, 33 and 63 considered 'truck routes"?

Bea, it's not only a matter of distance, but time as well. If you've ever used mapquest or google maps you've seen where they offer routes by time or by distance. As a truck driver I would stay on four-lane roads as much as possible. Obviously you have to use two lanes to get to most customers eventually. We try yo avoid Cities and Towns as much as possble for several reasons. First; safety. On a four-lane you shouldn't expect some one stopped in front of you to turn left, a kid running into the street or some one pulling out in front of you. 2nd; we don't like to have to even slow down, more or less have to stop completey. Both cost time and money. Yes, they are all truck routes and legal for trucks. But most drivers I know would rather drive on a four lane. I myself always looked at the Thruway both as time vs money. When coming home from Syracuse I would rather pay a toll to get to my family in 2 hrs. But I knew drivers that would save the $20 and take 5&20 instead, which would take about 3-3 1/2 hours and about $10 more in fuel. So it cost me $10 for the extra time I'd get with my kids. If it cost me $100 for that extra hour, I still would have spent it.

Tim, if I were a driver, I'd avoid using map quest or google unless they have a specific parameter requesting a route that has no 13' bridges (not so much for getting from point A to close to the destination, but getting from the exit to a delivery point).
I understand the time vs money aspect.
But, as you stated in an earlier post, "I attended a couple of meetings a few years ago to give my opinion as a truck driver on the round-about. I was told that this would hopefully get trucks to avoid using Batavia and get them back on the Thruway.".
My question, and confusion, is how far out of the way would a driver have to go to get from a starting point on 98 south to the thruway if they don't use 98 and go through Batavia?
While the concept is to discourage trucks from using the roundabout, what are the options when coming from the south?

Just look at a map:

You could take 77, which goes through Darien.

You could jump up on Rt 20 and take that East/west.

You could get on Rt 20, then Rt 19 to get to Rochester.

Batavia is a straight shot, but there are other ways.