The project encompasses the stretch of road from the edge of the bridge coming off the Seneca Nation territory near the roundabout, to the split in the road where vehicles can take Howard Street or Central Avenue into the Village of Silver Creek.

Scott McKay, an assistant regional design engineer for the DOT, presented a map and plan to transform the four-lane road into a three-lane road, with a middle lane to serve as a two-way left turn lane. The target timeframe for the project to begin is May-June of 2024.

“The goal of the project is to reduce the accidents out there,” McKay said. The area in question is responsible for 67 accidents over a three-year period the DOT evaluated.

Town Board member Lou Pelletter said, “It’s one accident after another. … The bottom line is, there’s way too many serious accidents there.”

OBSERVER Photos by Braden Carmen Town of Hanover Supervisor Todd Johnson responds during a recent DOT presentation at a Town Board meeting.

With many of the accidents occurring in the area being left turn accidents and rear end accidents, the addition of a left turn only middle lane, coupled with two lanes of traffic being reduced to one each way, is eyed as an improvement to the current situation.

“We believe this treatment will reduce 50% of the accidents out there,” McKay said.

Twenty of the accidents the studies showed were in parking lots in businesses just off the road. McKay said entrances and exits will be more defined once the road is narrowed.

The DOT reported about 12,000 vehicles of annual daily traffic in the area in question. After computerized analysis, McKay said, “We feel that you are going to lose, from end to end, about four seconds.”

McKay reported the 85th percentile speed in the area is 54 miles per hour, when the speed limit is 45 miles per hour. A road adjustment like the one proposed typically results in 3-4 miles per hour of a decrease in speed, which would put the figures closer to what the current speed limit is.

OBSERVER Photos by Braden Carmen Pictured is a map of the proposed project on Route 5 and Route 20 in the Town of Hanover.

“This is going to provide some traffic calming,” McKay said.

McKay explained, “The reason why changing the signs from 55 to 45 doesn’t work is because of the character of the road. It looks like a four-lane highway, so that’s how they are going to drive it. … If we change the character of the road … we feel that it is going to slow the traffic down.”

Five to six feet of excess pavement on each side of the road will be removed, while the shoulder will increase by one foot, from a 7-foot shoulder to an 8-foot shoulder. Truck pull-offs will be made smaller as more clearly designated areas, rather than what McKay described as a “free-for-all.”

The project is also expected to address drainage issues throughout the route. “We are going to address all of those issues,” McKay said.

In addition to drainage concerns, the Town Board also raised concerns about train stoppages going into Sunset Bay backing up traffic, as well as concerns with drivers recklessly speeding onto the road coming off the highway.

Scott McKay, an Assistant Regional Design Engineer for the Department of Transportation, presented plans for a proposal to adjust Route 5 and Route 20 in the Town of Hanover from a four-lane road to a three-lane road.

“This is a unique Board — you have four ex cops and a fireman,” Town Board member Bernie Feldmann joked.

At the intersection at Allegany Road, the road will allow for a left turn lane, a straight lane, and a right turn lane.

The town, which approved a sewer line study immediately after the presentation, is interested in partnering with DOT with scheduling and possibly incorporating the water line work within the road project.

“I would think we’d be out in front of you, or at the same time,” Feldmann said.

“I’d like to work together, if we can,” Pelletter said.