DOT Commissioner Unveils Plan
Aimed At Easing Local Anxieties
FIVE MILE POINT – Camp owners near Five Mile Point, on a stretch of Route 80 that has been sliding into Otsego Lake, can lay fears to reach that a state DOT plan would force them off their properties.
In a letter released today by state Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, the state transportation commissioner, Joan McDonald, said a new plan has been developed that “will deep traffic flowing, not affect Otsego Lake and allow access to the properties.”
A deteriorating bank on the lake side of West Lake Road, which was to be replaced with rip-rap that would have extended into the lake, will be replaced “with a concrete retaining wall system at the same location, with aesthetic treatment incorporated,” McDonald wrote in a letter dated Jan. 9.
DOT COMMISSIONER DETAILS FIVE MILE POINT PLAN
I continued: “New aspalt pavement shall be installed across the entire two lanes for the length of the reconstruction area. There will be access to the properties throughout the project construction.”
In reacting to the news, Seward said he is “extremely pleased” with the new development, which showed DOT “listened to property owners and incorporated their suggestions.
“We now have a project that meets the safety needs of the motoring public, protects the environmental health of Otsego Lake, and will have no negative impact on homeowners,” the senator said.