Of the five fatalities between 1991 and 2008, three involved vehicles crossing the center line.
State and Onondaga County officials for years have debated the merits of installing a traffic barrier on Onondaga Lake Parkway. The road was the scene this week of two crashes in two days.Onondaga County and state officials have been debating for years whether to install a traffic barrier on the Onondaga Lake Parkway in an effort to prevent crashes such as the two that occurred in two days this week and claimed a life.
While the accident rate for the two-mile stretch from Syracuse to Liverpool is on par with the state average, the road poses some unique safety challenges.
It acts as a highway — carrying a large amount of traffic at fast speeds — with only a painted median. Its speed limit is 55 mph during summer months, higher than Interstate 81 in downtown Syracuse. Unlike Erie Boulevard, the parkway has no traffic lights and is flanked by parkland, not strip malls and driveways.
Between 1991 and 2008, there were 343 crashes, including five fatal crashes, along the parkway, according to the state Department of Transportation. Three of the fatal crashes involved drivers crossing the center line. That happened again on Monday.
A safety barrier would affect 23,300 daily parkway drivers and thousands of residents who take advantage of Onondaga County’s most popular recreational facility.
But the county has balked at anything that would cut off access or damage the appearance of Onondaga Lake Park, which sprawls on both sides of the four-lane road. Across the parkway from the shoreline park sits St. Marie among the Iroquois museum, a stone bridge and more parkland.
Maryann Denny, 40, of North Syracuse was killed Monday when a Volkswagen crossed into her lane near the CSX railroad bridge on Onondaga Lake Parkway. County officials also contend a barricade would make it easier to speed along the parkway.
This week’s crashes may provide reasons to reconsider, a county legislator said.
“Obviously, it’s a lot more intrusive to put up big barriers,” said Legislator Kathleen Rapp, chair of the parks, facilities and transportation committee. “I don’t know, maybe we should take another look at it.”
Both crashes involved drivers crossing into oncoming traffic along the parkway, also known as Route 370.
On Monday, Maryann Denny, 40, of North Syracuse, was killed when a Volkswagen Jetta, driven by Matthew Stephan, crossed into her lane near the CSX railroad bridge along the parkway.
Maryann DennySheriff Kevin Walsh said it appears road rage may have caused Stephan, 22, of Clay, to cross into oncoming traffic to pass a vehicle that had just passed him. Two other vehicles were involved in the crash that sent four people to hospitals with injuries not considered life-threatening.
On Tuesday, two women were treated for minor injuries after their cars collided head-on, troopers said. One woman in a Mercedes sedan swerved over the center line to avoid an animal in the road, state police said.
Ghazal Nosrati, 18, of Liverpool, said she saw a “dark-colored animal” and turned into oncoming traffic, hitting a Hyundai sedan driven by Maria DeSantis, 56, of Syracuse, troopers said.
The two crashes happened within a mile of each other along the parkway, between the CSX railroad bridge and the Interstate 81 interchange in Syracuse.
An old debate
There are no immediate plans to make safety changes along the parkway, said state DOT spokesman Gene Cilento.
The DOT has wanted to build a fixed barrier since June 2006 to cut down on the number of crossover and off-road crashes, he said.
But the plan has been on the slow track. No money has been set aside by the state or federal government. The state hasn’t requested federal funding until the 2015-16 fiscal year.
There has been plenty of discussion in the past three years about what to do.
In 2007, former County Executive Nicholas Pirro proposed reducing the speed limit to 45 mph in warm months and 35 mph during the winter. He also suggested reducing the parkway to three lanes, perhaps adding a left turn lane to allow safer park access.
“We remain committed to the idea and concept that this is indeed a “park” way,” Pirro wrote in a letter to the state DOT. “While understanding that use of the road has become an important commuter link, we do not think anything less of the idea that the original design and intention of this road was for a slow, park enjoying, thoroughfare.”
Martin Skahen, speaking for County Executive Joanie Mahoney, said the county’s position has not changed since Pirro wrote that letter. Skahen said Mahoney supports finding an alternative to building a barrier such as lowering the speed limit.
The state transportation department said narrowing the parkway would be unpopular. It also said lowering the speed limit would be impractical since the shoulders are too narrow for police to effectively patrol for speeders.
A joint state-county meeting in 2007 ended with several conclusions about safety along the parkway:
Drivers routinely travel over the speed limit, posted at 55 mph in warm weather and 45 mph in winter.
Narrowing the parkway and diverting traffic onto nearby Old Liverpool Road would not win public support, even if Old Liverpool Road was widened.
A box-beam median was a good safety option, but could block traffic lanes when damaged. Repairs would require closing one lane of traffic in both directions.
Unique roadway
Officials agreed the parkway has features not present on any other local road.
Unlike Erie Boulevard or other similar arteries in Central New York, the parkway has no traffic lights or commercial strips, making it more like a limited-access highway than a local road. Even Erie Boulevard East, with its lower speed limit and frequent traffic lights, boasts a wide median not found along Onondaga Lake Parkway.
“It’s a unique fixture in this community,” said James D’Agostino, director of the Syracuse Metropolitan Transportation Council. ’’It has a relatively high amount of traffic at a high speed.”
But it may be no less safe than other major roads, he said.
In fact, the accident rate along the parkway is just slightly above the state average. According to DOT statistics, state roads average 0.98 accidents per 1 million miles traveled. Onondaga Lake Parkway saw 1.02 accidents per 1 million miles traveled between January 2005 and December 2007, Cilento said.
Local police say crashes on the parkway aren’t more of a problem than other roads its size. A five-mile stretch of Route 11, between Mattydale and Route 31, saw 412 crashes in about two years, from summer 2007 to 2009, far more than the 343 registered along the parkway in 18 years.
The aggressive driving that likely led to Monday’s fatal crash also isn’t unique to the parkway, police said. Of the 412 crashes along Route 11, some 85 percent were attributed to aggressive driving which the state police defines as driving “in a selfish, bold or pushy manner, without regard for the rights or safety of the other users of the streets and highways.”
In fact, 38 percent of the traffic tickets issued by Onondaga County Sheriff’s deputies between Jan. 1 and Aug. 1 of this year were for aggressive driving offenses, said Sgt. John D’Eredita. That’s 5,698 tickets out of 14,946 total tickets for moving violations.
Everyone agreed that the parkway is a safe road when driven responsibly.
“Given the volume of traffic, there’s no more instances of aggressive driving there than other parts of the county,” Walsh said.
D’Agostino, of the transportation council, agreed.
“My understanding is that when people travel the speed limit in normal conditions, it’s a safe road,” he said.