Thousands of drivers travel through Brighton on Monroe Avenue every day, and many are likely familiar with a specific sound: the rattling ka-chunk of their vehicles hitting one of the craters that scar the street.
The pavement's condition is the impetus for a state Department of Transportation project to resurface the approximately 1.75-mile corridor of Monroe between the Rochester city line and the Interstate 590 bridge in Brighton.
"Anybody who's been, you know, through this section of Monroe Avenue — or state Route 31 — in Brighton realizes that the pavement is in need of some TLC," said Mare Millow, public information officer for the regional DOT office.
But this is no mere resurfacing project. There's more to it, and there has to be.
Monroe Avenue is a well-traveled route into the city that is lined with small businesses, shops, restaurants, and more. It passes through the heart of the town at Twelve Corners and is flanked by pleasant, thriving neighborhoods. And in addition to heavy motor vehicle traffic, there's a lot of pedestrian activity.
"Monroe Avenue is not and shouldn't function as just a thoroughfare to take people away from the city," said Brighton Supervisor Bill Moehle. "This is our main street. We want people to stop, we want them to shop, we want them to eat, and we want everybody to be able to do that safely."
Moehle said the town is happy with much of the design, which includes some changes to the road's configuration. But there are elements officials would like to see added.
Here's a look at what the $13 million project entails and what Brighton officials and other groups are asking for:
Lanes
In most places, this corridor of Monroe Avenue has four 10-foot travel lanes. But current plans for the resurfacing project call for it to be reconfigured to two 10-foot travel lanes and a center turn lane, with shoulders that will provide space for cyclists — something that does not exist right now.
"We're really looking at how do we make this corridor safer and more efficient for motorists, for pedestrians and cyclists within the parameters of the pavement project," Millow said.
Moehle said the town supports this decision. Monroe County took a similar approach when it resurfaced Elmwood Avenue, and that's worked out well, he added.
The local transportation advocacy group Reconnect Rochester also supports the reduction in lanes, noting that on average, road diets reduce crashes by 30%.
"The avenue doesn't have as many trees as some streets and just that wide-open vista also tends to promote people driving faster than they should," Moehle said. "The three-lane diet configuration slows traffic. The speed limit sign slows traffic, but organically, the structure of the lane slows traffic."
Speed limit
The state is not proposing to change the posted 35 mph limit on this part of Monroe. But Brighton officials and Reconnect Rochester want it to.
Both have asked the DOT to lower the limit to 30 mph. They cite the grim but large body of research that shows even a small reduction in vehicle speeds can increase the chances that a pedestrian would survive being struck.
Millow said a speed limit reduction is not off the table, but the DOT has a process it follows, and that wouldn't begin until after the project is finished. The agency would give drivers some time to adjust to the changes along the roadway, and then it would do a speed study to see if a reduction is necessary.
"The fact that the speed reduction is requested means that people are traveling over the speed limit," Millow said. "So our hope is that by narrowing the road, we'll see people traveling at the speed limit, and then that won't be necessary."
Crosswalks
The project includes sidewalk repairs and minor reconfigurations of some side street intersections. Improved crosswalks are also part of the plans.
But Brighton officials would like to see more crosswalks added to this stretch of Monroe, particularly around bus stops. Moehle said the town also wants the state to install what are called "rapid rectangular flashing beacons" — those are the high-visibility flashing lights mounted to some crosswalk signs in the area.
"Those are really important in crossing streets where there isn't a traffic signal, so we want to see those added," Moehle said. "We're really looking at a multifaceted, multimodal approach to Brighton, but all with the goal of enhancing the avenue as our main street for our neighborhoods and for our neighborhood businesses."
Twelve Corners
The beating heart of Brighton is a complex web of intersections where Monroe, Elmwood Avenue, and South Winton Road meet in a triangle.
Because of that intricacy, the project designers plan to leave the road configuration roughly the same around that area. Under current plans, there won't be a road diet through Twelve Corners, and existing turn lanes on Monroe will remain in place.
Moehle said the town's focus in the Twelve Corners area is less around road design and more around land use and promoting a mix of business and residential activity in that area and adjacent neighborhoods.
