Borough Holds Special Meeting on Woodland Road Sidewalks

Madison engineer Bob Vogel told the Borough Council he is hopeful the firm the borough is working with can finalize its proposal for road construction on Samson Avenue and Woodland Roads after a public meeting they had with residents.

The meeting was held on Monday before the regular council meeting, and gave residents a look at the proposal as it stands from Omland Engineering Associates.

"Hopefully we have enough right now to finalize the proposal we have right now and get a set of good documents that works for the entire borough," Vogel said after the special meeting.

Many residents of Woodland Road have been rallying against possible sidewalks in the reconstruction project for months. The Nov. 9, 2009 council meeting was highlighted by many of those residents testifying, with many believing the sidewalks would take away from the country look of the area.

Vogel told the council that the people at the meeting gave little resistance to the Samson proposal, and were happy with the proposed change from asphalt to concrete, curbs of granite block, and traffic calming additions.

He said, though the residents were happy with the traffic calming and speed control additions proposed, there was still no consensus on what to do with the walkways on Woodland.

"In terms of end-to-end improvements between Green Avenue and Barnsdale, there is about a 60 or 65 percent of the road with a pretty well beaten path on it which we'd like to reestablish in some formal way," Vogel said. "The remaining part has pedestrian prints on it, maybe not an established path, again as the sidewalk flips to the south side of the road from Samson Avenue eastward. And there was a lot of disagreement if that proposal should move forward with off-road walkways or if it shouldn't. That was my take on the meeting."

Councilman Don Links questioned why the proposed walkways are granular rather than concrete, when concrete would be the most cost effective material. Vogel said that it was because he and Omland believed there would be less resistance from the residents if the granular walkways were in the project. However, he did say that concrete would last longer and be less expensive to upkeep than granular walkways.

The proposed road reconstruction for Woodland Road is estimated to cost $850,000, with $450,000 coming from grants and the other $400,000 currently coming out of pocket from the borough. The Samson Avenue project is estimated at $145,000, with $116,000 coming in state money.