Beardsley Architects + Engineers is pleased to announce that the realignment of H-Area Road at Wellesley Island State Park in Fineview, NY, has been selected by the American Public Works Association to receive a 2024 Transportation of the Year Award from the Central New York Chapter. The award recognizes public works projects that exhibit exemplary partnerships between the owner, architects and engineers, and the contractor.
Under a continuing design service contract with the NYS Office of Parks Recreation and Historic Preservation (NYSOPRHP) Thousand Islands Regional Office, Beardsley Architects + Engineers provided engineering design services for the realignment of an existing roadway at Wellesley Island State Park. The NYSOPRHP proposed to reconstruct a section of roadway on Nature Center Road, located between Camping Loop H and Cross Island Road, within the Park.
The new section of roadway addresses the existing roadway’s deficiencies that included limited sight and stopping distances, lack of bicycle / pedestrian lanes, frequent vehicle collisions with Blanding’s turtles while crossing the road, and seasonal flooding. The primary goals of the project were to provide vehicle drivers with proper line of sight distances to see pedestrians and bicyclists, provide pedestrians and bicyclists with a safe travel lane, and to provide a safe passageway for Blanding’s turtles, which are a threatened species in New York State.
To address the issues with the road, a portion of the existing roadway was demolished and a new, wider roadway with improved sight and stopping distances was constructed. As part of the planned improvements, the new asphalt roadway was constructed with 12-foot driving lanes (single lane each way), 6-foot-wide bicycle/pedestrian lanes, steel-backed timber guide rail and bicycle rails along sections of the road, a traffic calming device, and a three-sided precast concrete arch culvert to act as a turtle crossing measure. Segmented retaining walls were constructed on both sides of the roadway to limit wetland disturbances and to funnel the Blanding’s turtles to the arch culvert. Additionally, the existing boat launch parking area was increased in size and made ADA compliant.