Kenwood Avenue seeing potential changes

DELMAR, N.Y. (NEWS10) —The Town of Bethlehem held the first of two public workshops on the Kenwood Avenue traffic calming study. The town project team is including residents in on the matter for their input. Considered mainly as a residential street, Kenwood Avenue is also home to small-scale commercial community services including schools, religious institutions, ballfields, and a rail-trail.

To remedy these situations, Bethlehem Town Supervisor David VanLuven, is looking to bring down the speed limit starting with Kenwood Avenue. "We are having and seeing a lot of complaints and concerns about safety for pedestrians, particularly for children walking or riding to school. Currently the speed limit is 30 miles per hour, and that's the case on all of our residential streets. Long term we are looking to change our town's speed limit to 25 miles per hour," stated VanLuven.

Student of Bethlehem Middle School, Amelia Rook-Sweeney, shared her experience getting to school. "I do get driven, but I also walk. I've been getting driven more often just because of how unsafe it is on Kenwood," described Rook-Sweeny.

Former student, Sean Garrity, was also concerned about the situation. "There's people who come off down on 32 and come barreling down Kenwood and come over this hill towards the middle school and creates an unsafe environment," explained Garrity.

Attendees of the workshop were able to participate in groups, making notes on maps of the street. An online version of the map is available for the public to comment on. The next public workshop will be held in August or September to allow the public to have input on draft concept plans.