[Update since we wrote this in 2019: The East Avenue sidewalk is now complete all the way to the Brighton Town Line.]
If you haven’t taken a walk on the newly completed section of sidewalk on East Avenue in Pittsford lately, you are in for a real treat.
We now have a concrete sidewalk along East Avenue all the way to the south entrance of Kilbourne Road, connecting the Village and Town where there was no connection before.
It used to be like this:
Can I get a “Whoo hoo!” because this is exciting stuff, people! A sidewalk! Along beautiful East Avenue. Soon, you can safely walk into Brighton without having to twist your ankle walking at the edge of the road and risk your life next to 50mph traffic.
Phase 1 Complete
The East Ave Sidewalk Project is a multi-phase project for the Town of Pittsford. Phase 1 was completed in the fall. (See map here). Concrete sidewalk, retaining walls, topsoil restoration — all done. They have some seeding to do in the spring, but that’s it for Phase 1. We now have a functioning sidewalk and it’s marvelous. I did a few Sound of Music twirls yesterday to test it out and there is plenty of room for that AND walking, skipping or rolling.
There is now a safe place to walk and more visual cues to drivers that pedestrians are present.
- Cue #1: There is a big beautiful new sidewalk.
- Cue #2: additional street markings — zebra striped crosswalk markings instead of those barely noticeable lines that weren’t fooling anyone into thinking pedestrians were a priority. Additional crosswalks and pedestrian signal lights were added at French Road/East Ave and the entrance to Nazareth at New England. [See photo below.]
- Cue #3: ADA compliant ramps.
- Cue #4: More bus stop pads where we previously had to wait in the snow and grass.
Before:
[Intersection at New England and Nazareth Entrance looking toward Village]
But wait… there’s more.
Before:
[Intersection of New England & East Ave heading away from Village]
[And they even added a bus stop pad, so we don’t have to wait in the muddy grass half the year anymore]
Phase 2 & Beyond…
The plans for Phase 2 — a sidewalk from the south entrance from Kilbourn Road to the Brighton line — have been submitted and are awaiting DOT approval. Once approved, they expect to start prepping and doing tree cutting in winter. They will coordinate with DOT and Oak Hill to work around the the East Ave resurfacing project (which will continue in the spring) and the Senior PGA Championship (in May).
Phase 3 will happen later, which proposes adding sidewalks to connect to St. John Fisher College and join up with already existing sidewalks along 31F in Pittsford to the east. This includes a reconfigured intersection and pedestrian improvements where Rt. 96 and 31F meet.
Hopefully someday soon, we will have proper bikes lanes that will connect Pittsford to Brighton, the City and beyond so taking your bike for transportation can be a safe option even for those who aren’t road cyclists. (A girl can dream. Baby steps, people.)
Kudos to the Town of Pittsford for making this project a priority and for making it safer to walk in our community!
Okay, one more set. Just to entice you to pay the sidewalk a visit.
Before:
After:
I have to add that the transformation really is remarkable and has changed how my family uses East Ave. My son and I wait for the bus in front of Nazareth College and we used to have to stand in the mud next to speeding traffic. Now we can walk there safely and have a safe place to wait (there is still, of course, speeding traffic… but that’s another conversation). I walked through neighborhoods I had never walked through before because walking wasn’t a pleasant, safe option before. Really nice work, Pittsford! The neighborhoods around East Ave must be so happy.
I can’t understand that in the middle of 2020 we need to ask for a sidewalk, I really wanted the entire Pittsford region to have a sidewalk so we can walk with our children and family safely. I live in oak leaf Pittsford, love this are so much, very close Bushnell Basil if have sidewalk it would be incredible, we could enjoy the area much more,
especially in summer, I leave here my request for a sidewalk in this region.
Hi! Thank you for your reply. Do you mean completing the sidewalk on Thornell Road? Part of that road is in the Town of Perinton. The Town of Pittsford will be adopting its first ever Active Transportation Plan, which includes an examination of sidewalk gaps in the Town. That segment is identified as a priority in the plan and will require cooperation with the Town of Perinton to finish.
Will the short stretch from the Pittsford/Brighton town line on East Avenue to the pre-existing sidewalk past Knollwood be new sidewalk
as well? It’s a dangerous stretch to attempt to get from Knollwood and Allen Creek School to the Pittsford completed sidewalk. I have seen cones there so I am hopeful???