Armed with a petition of 1,100 signatures, Pavilion Town Supervisor Robert LaPoint (in photo) told the Genesee County Legislature this afternoon that the community he serves is galvanized to do something about what he says is a dangerous traffic situation in the vicinity of Pavilion Central School on Route 63.
“With the help of the school district, we put forth a petition just to see if there was interest in the community to try to address this issue and, in under a week, we had 1,100 signatures on that petition in support of it – which is just under half of the population of the Town of Pavilion,” he said. “There is definitely energy in the town to try to do something about this.”
LaPoint informed lawmakers of the situation during a Committee of the Whole meeting attended by Congressman Chris Jacobs at the Old County Courthouse Legislative Chambers. The meeting was set up to appraise the congressman with the county’s infrastructure needs, specifically bridges, water and high-speed internet access.
In Pavilion, LaPoint said the excessive amount of tractor-trailer traffic coming through the hamlet has created a hazardous condition, putting students, staff and parents at risk.
He said the amount of traffic on Route 63 coming from the north or the south past the school dictates how quickly school buses and cars exiting the school parking lots can pull onto the state highway.
“The elementary school is just off 63 on York Road and the high school and middle school are on Route 63,” LaPoint said. “The bus loops and the student parking lots exit directly onto Route 63. This is in a 35-mile-per-hour zone, but that seems like it’s an optional speed limit to many of the trucks that come through town.”
As a result, he said, the traffic flow “coming in and out of the school at various times of the day is a real challenge.”
LaPoint said he has spoken with state Department of Transportation officials, although “not in formal terms,” and understands that the DOT will have final say in any changes, such as traffic control devices or additional signage.
Noting that he would rely on road engineers for advice, he underscored that “everyone agrees it is a problem and a dangerous situation waiting to happen with our students, our faculty and our parents.”
When asked by The Batavian reporter what the petition stated, LaPoint said it “says we need to address the dangerous traffic conditions around the schools, and it goes into specifics about some of the challenges.”
“The elementary school doesn’t exit directly on to Route 63, but they’re 100 feet away. Over 50 percent of the cars exit the elementary school and attempt to turn, and it’s only a stop sign. The stop sign that terminates York Road, the cross street of Route 63 and then (there is) the bus loop; it’s like a continuation of York Road.”
LaPoint said he observes buses and cars backed up so far that they block all the parking lots.
“Everyone is stuck there waiting because without a timed traffic light, it’s just up to the traffic (on Route 63) to decide when you can go out,” he said. “And (it’s) because we have so many heavy tractor-trailers going down that road. To me, school buses and tractor-trailers don’t mix.”
Legislator Gary Maha asked LaPoint if the stretch near the school was zoned as a school district.
“It is not,” LaPoint answered. “It’s just a 35 (mph) right on through the hamlet. What they (DOT) told me was that without walkers and without a crossing guard … there was no way to get a school speed zone. We don’t have walkers or traffic safety crossing guard because it would be absurd to attempt to have students walking on that road. It would just be far too dangerous for us.”
Maha mentioned serving on the Route 63 Corridor committee led by Bruce Tehan about 30 years ago, and a study that looked at creating a bypass for trucks coming off or going to Interstate 390 and not using the Thruway.
“We found it would cost $1 million a mile (for a bypass),” Maha said.
LaPoint said the best option would be to have a flashing light put in at the intersection of Route 63 and York Road, one that could be activated during drop off times in the morning and at dismissal.
“We have an SRO (school resource officer) there, but I don’t know technically speaking how these things could be operated -- if an SRO could operate it,” he said. “I know he’s jumped out to direct traffic at various times because the flow situation can get so bad. It messes up the school, too. If their buses take an extra 10 minutes … then they’re not back in time.”
He brought up that transportation could become a bigger headache with the school entering into an in-school and remote learning schedule.
LaPoint also said he would like to see reduced speed all the way up to Route 246 about a quarter-mile to the southeast of the school, pointing out the difficulty at times of making turns from Route 246 (Perry Road) onto Route 63.
“What we have on 246 is a north-south road crossing at an angle, essentially double the size of road you’re trying to get across, when you try to clear that intersection,” he explained. “Not to mention that you need to square up to the road to see because there’s a blind hill there.
“When traffic is coming down above the speed limit, you can’t get across … and I’ve driven tractors and wagons across that intersection, and you do a sign of the cross and open it wide open and go. By the time you get across the road, you might be relying on somebody hitting the brakes that you couldn’t see before you left.”
On another front, LaPoint reported that the Town of Pavilion is “on the cusp” of building a new water tank to provide water service to the eastern and most of the northern part of the town, and that the town is hoping to add more water districts in the coming years.
While acknowledging that the Town of Pavilion would welcome any financial support for infrastructure, he was quick to thank the legislature for planning to make another revenue distribution to the county’s towns and villages.
Previous: Legislature set to distribute another round of payments to towns and villages.
“It really puts the proof in the pudding that when we started this whole thing (COVID-19), everybody was getting nervous,” he said. “The legislature is not trying to seize money. It is trying to be prudent at both the legislative county level and with all of our area municipalities. So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you very much.”
Photo by Mike Pettinella.
