The Village of Pleasantville generally has a reputation for being safe and pedestrian-friendly, but one intersection poses safety risks to pedestrians and drivers alike. 

Earlier this fall, the Village of Pleasantville Board of Trustees met with State Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Assemblymember MaryJane Shimsky, and state Department of Transportation representatives to address safety concerns at the Grant Street intersection on the Saw Mill River Parkway. According to Pleasantville-ny.gov, proposed safety enhancements include the installation of electronic signage, synchronized with traffic signals, to alert drivers of upcoming red lights; improved maintenance of road-side plants; and placing a red-light camera at the intersection.

Arthur Bentley is a resident of Pleasantville who lives close to the Saw Mill River Parkway and frequents the pedestrian walkway. “It is very dangerous, it requires police enforcement which does not happen on a regular basis,” he said. “I would guess that, knowing human nature, if there were a red light camera here, word would get out and people would slow down and stop for the red light more often.”

Village Trustee Nicole Asquith described it as a “tricky intersection.”

“There’s a turn when you’re going southbound on the Saw Mill, which makes it a bit of a blind spot right before you hit the intersection, and it’s particularly tricky at night. There is a warning indication before you get there, but there was a serious accident earlier this year, and there have been a number of incidents,” she said.

“The problem really presents itself when drivers fail to see the light or fail to stop at the light when it turns red.”

Turns from the parkway onto Grant Street are prohibited, but many drivers make these illegal turns anyway. In March, the village requested that the state place a red light camera at the parkway intersection on Grant Street.

Asquith explained that placing a red light camera would require getting state approval. “The Saw Mill is a state-owned road,” she said. “We don’t own it, we can’t change the infrastructure on our own, so everything has to go through the New York State Department of Transportation.”

The village has discussed other options for improving safety at the intersection, Asquith said. “Small things, like having more visibility for the crossing guards,” she said.

Some people have suggested building a pedestrian bridge.

“The state would have to do it,” Asquith said. “It’s very expensive, and there tend to be problems with those kind of infrastructures too. Sometimes you have issues with keeping them clean and keeping them safe, and so the likelihood the state would undertake something like that is extremely small.”

The Village of Pleasantville will begin working with state legislators again on this issue in the new year, during the next legislative session.