UPDATED: Aug. 28, 2017 at 11:59 p.m.

Planned improvements to Euclid Avenue near Syracuse University will move forward this academic year, a city official said, using money from a New York state grant.

“It won’t be all done until next year,” said Pete O’Connor, commissioner of the Syracuse Department of Public Works, about the Euclid Avenue Bike and Pedestrian Network Expansion project. “We’ll start some of it this year as part of our construction season.”

The project includes the construction of bicycle lanes, an action O’Connor said has sparked conversation within the community.

Syracuse authorized the construction along Euclid after it was confirmed this summer that $1.5 million from the state could be used for road improvement projects in the city.

The money will come in the form of a reimbursement grant from the state’s Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program.

O’Connor said he was originally given a $2.5 million budget by the city for his roadway Total Reconstruction Program this year, which aims to repave 15 to 20 roads including Euclid Avenue.

The public works commissioner, though, said the city was alerted in July that $4 million in total was in fact available through the CHIPS reimbursement grant. That extra money will help fund the Euclid project.

Syracuse Common Councilor Helen Hudson authorized the 2017-18 Euclid Avenue Bike and Pedestrian Network Expansion, according to a July Common Council agenda.

The authorization stated the total cost of the expansion would not exceed $935,000, according to the agenda. O’Connor said the project will take place between Westcott Street and Comstock Avenue.

“One side of the street is a bike lane with parked cars next to it and the other side is just going to be pavement markings,” O’Connor said.

O’Connor said the bicycle lanes are just pavement markings, but “the compromise was done in-house,” in regards to one bike lane being near parked cars and one not.

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He said the project would not be complete until next spring when the construction season starts again, and some of the construction will be started this year.

O’Connor said he plans to start curb work and American with Disabilities Act corner work before the construction seasons end near the end of October.

There will be detours on the side of the road with curb work, and bicycles will have less room, O’Connor said. Car lanes, though, will remain open, he added.

The entire Total Reconstruction Program project — including the Euclid improvements — should last, at a minimum, 15 to 20 years, he said. There is the possibility, though, that the project will go on longer than that.

The Southeast University Neighborhood Association, the oldest continuously functioning volunteer organization in the city of Syracuse, has taken an interest in the Euclid project,  according to the group’s website.

Harry Lewis, a SEUNA member and former president of the organization, said he feels the lack of bike lanes on Euclid Avenue is a safety issue, adding anything to help students from getting hurt is important to SEUNA.

“I think (the grant) will be used for the safety of the university,” Lewis said.

The story has been updated for appropriate style.

Published on August 28, 2017 at 11:48 pm

Contact Katelyn: kmfaubel@syr.edu