Putnam Creates Portal Updating Public Works Projects

PUTNAM COUNTY, NY — Road construction work is starting or re-starting up throughout Putnam County — including the problem-plagued Peekskill Hollow Road project — and now residents can keep an eye on if and how they're progressing.

The county's new Public Works Department has created a new web portal for road construction projects. It is meant to give residents easy access to regular updates and information regarding county projects.

Putnam County Executive Kevin Byrne highlighted the online tool during his 2024 State of the County presentation earlier in March.

"We are excited to launch the Road Construction Project Portal as part of our ongoing commitment to transparency and accountability in government," he said. "By providing residents with access to timely and accurate information about county road projects, we are empowering our community to stay informed and engaged in the development and progress of critical infrastructure projects."

The Road Construction Project Portal aims to provide a user-friendly interface for residents. Each project is assigned a color code — green, yellow, or red—to indicate its status. Green signifies that the project is on track, yellow indicates a potential delay, and red confirms a delay.

Traffic impact is also color-coded.

The portal also includes project details such as the expected completion date, traffic impact, and the name of the contractor.

It should help residents better understand the scope and timeline of each project and plan accordingly for any potential disruptions, officials said.

"We want to make sure residents have access to the information they need to navigate construction activities in our communities," said Department of Public Works Commissioner Tommy Feighery. "By centralizing project updates and status reports on a single webpage, we are streamlining communication and making it easier than ever for residents to have an idea of what’s going on."

The Department of Public Works was created in July, centralizing the work of the county's highways, engineering, and parks divisions, and Feighery, who had been running the highway department since the beginning of Byrne's administration in January, was appointed commissioner.

The big communications problem at that time was over the Peekskill Hollow Road project. SEE: Putnam Moves On Peekskill Hollow Road Project 'Disaster'.

That's the word Putnam Valley Town Supervisor Jacqueline Annabi used to county legislators in April, complaining that the previous administration had continually brushed off requests and questions from local officials about the project (initially scheduled to be finished in 2022).

When Byrne took office, he wanted to make regular updates about all road construction projects available to the public. He also hosted a town-hall style meeting in Putnam Valley to update residents as part of his commitment to accountability.

The DPW worked with the county's IT department to create the new portal. It is based on a model from the New York state Department of Transportation; but, county officials said, Putnam's is easier to navigate and understand.

“I commend DPW and the County Executive for taking this proactive step towards greater transparency,” said Legislator Greg Ellner, Chairman of the Physical Services Committee. “Providing taxpayers with access to these bi-weekly updates is valuable, admirable, and absolutely the right thing to do.”

BTW, according to the new Road Construction Project Portal, the Peekskill Hollow Road work will be done by July 31.

The lawsuits over the project between the county and the previous contractor are pending, with a meeting before the judge scheduled in April.

Arben walked off the job in mid-December 2022 leaving holes dug in the road in 2021 still covered with metal plates, equipment in staging areas and piles of dirt. The new administration met with the contractor in January 2023 but said later Arben's proposed changes were unworkable as it would have fundamentally changed the scope of work and risked the county’s ability to receive state and federal money committed to fund up to 90 percent of the project. Some county officials said they believed the contractor was in bad financial shape and was looking to gouge the county.

In its notice of claim, the Arben Group alleged that the previous administration was unable or unwilling to enforce its agreement with local utilities for pole and wire relocation along the affected part of the road, failed to properly investigate the presence of underground utilities (a mile of live Verizon wires were found by Arben when digging), failed to acknowledge its amendment of the contract to push the completion date to August 2023, and kept providing outdated or incorrect NYSDOT specifications.