Sidewalk Design

This Locally Administered Federal Aid (LAFA) project included the installation of a new sidewalk along New York State Route 96B (Danby Road) in Ithaca, New York. Prior to construction of the sidewalk, there was no established pedestrian route along Route 96B from Ithaca College and a nearby business campus to the southern termination of the City of Ithaca’s sidewalk network. Often, students would walk along the shoulder of the very busy road at night. Erdman Anthony provided preliminary design, final design, construction inspection, and construction support services for this Complete Streets project.

The preferred alternative included both 8-foot-wide asphalt sidewalks and 5-foot-wide concrete sidewalks with a minimum of 5-foot setback provided for snow storage between the sidewalk and the edge of the pavement or curb. The overall sidewalk length is 0.75 miles.

Since Ithaca College was contributing to the cost of the project and would take over maintenance of a portion of the sidewalk, significant coordination with various stakeholders was required.

Lighting was included along the sidewalk to provide safe passage at all hours. ADA-compliant sidewalk ramps, including detectable warning devices, were installed at all side-street crossing locations.

In order to eliminate the need for extensive retaining walls, Route 96B was reduced from two travel lanes to one in the northbound direction. This required new curbs and replacement of the drainage system.

Trees were preserved as much as possible, but in locations where saving them wasn’t possible, replacement trees were planted.

Utility coordination was also necessary to relocate poles and watermain that conflicted with the new sidewalk.