Harlem Road construction begins within weeks
by KEATON T. DEPRIEST Cheektowaga Editor

By the end of March or early April, the Harlem Road reconstruction project will begin, encompassing 19 months of work to widen and revamp the area from the intersection with Genesee Street to the Wehrle Drive and Kensington Avenue crossings.

The contractor conducting the work, DiPizio Construction, located at 100 Stradtman St., Cheektowaga, is scheduled to complete the $20.4 million, 2-mile long project by December 2008.

The reconstruction will give Harlem Road a complete redesign, adding new sidewalks, masonry walls, decorative lighting and roundabouts.

Susan Surdej, New York State Department of Transportation public information officer, said DiPizio Construction plans to start working at the Genesee Street intersection with Harlem Road in early spring when the winter weather breaks.

"In year one, they are planning on finishing from just north of Genesee Street to south of Cleveland Drive. In year two, they are planning on doing north of Cleveland Drive to Saratoga, including the roundabout work," she said.

A double roundabout will be installed at the Kensington Avenue and Wehrle Drive intersection during the second year of construction, in 2008.

"It is likely the other roundabout (at Harlem's intersection with Cleveland Drive) will be started in year two as well, it just depends on the scheduling," Surdej said.

She said the contractor is planning to install 200 feet of water line per day on Harlem Road during this year's construction season. A separate DiPizio crew will be installing storm sewers at the same time.

"I am anticipating he is going to make a lot of progress with that very quickly," Surdej said.

The first proposals for a reconstruction of Harlem Road date back to 1983, when suggestions were originally made for improvements to the street from the intersections of Maryvale Drive and Kensington Avenue.

In November, Thomas Messina, assistant regional design engineer, told The Bee that the Harlem Road plans were extended to Genesee Street in 1998, with the designs for the project being finalized within the last two years.

e-mail: kdepriest@beenews.com