SARANAC LAKE – If village leaders want any traffic lights or pedestrian crossings on Lake Flower Avenue, they’ll have to prove to the state Department of Transportation that they are needed.

At its last two meetings, the village Board of Trustees discussed ways to slow down traffic on the busy road, which is part of state Route 86.

“I’ve had some people talk to me about the difficulty getting out onto Lake Flower Avenue during the summer and how bad the traffic is,” Trustee Paul Van Cott said at the board’s Aug. 29 meeting. “And I’ve also talked with business owners about pedestrian safety going back and forth across the road, for the same reasons, because of the traffic.

“I’m sure we talked to DOT about it before, but it would be really neat to find some way to break up the traffic, possibly with another traffic light and/or a pedestrian crossing.”

Mayor Clyde Rabideau suggested then that the village ask the state to perform traffic counts on the road at its intersection with Edward and Duprey streets to see if they meet the thresholds for installing a signal. He asked village Manager John Sweeney to speak to DOT.

At Monday’s meeting, Sweeney reported that a DOT representative reportedly is “recommending or directing the village to hire an engineer to provide the detailed information of why” a traffic light is needed.

“I’m like, ‘I’m asking you for the traffic counts,'” Sweeney said. “The answer is the village has to prove justification to have one installed.”

“I thought that was their job,” said Trustee Allie Pelletieri.

“Now they’re farming it out,” Van Cott said.

Pelletieri suggested the village put up a traffic light on its own.

“If they want us to be in charge, let’s take charge,” he said.

While the Duprey or Edward street intersections were considered, Rabideau said it might make more sense to have a traffic light at Will Rogers Drive and realign the entrance to the Saranac Lake Shopping Center to meet it, an idea many locals have suggested before.

Rabideau asked village Community Development Director Jeremy Evans if there is any grant funding available for such a project.

“Over the medium-term, probably,” Evans said. “We would absolutely need a good design plan that would meet DOT standards.”

“Let’s try it,” Rabideau said. “Go get a grant for the design. (A traffic light) could solve a lot of problems. People could get out of Hyde’s Mobil quicker. It would be safer.”

DOT spokesman Mike Flick said the agency received what he called a “laundry list” of locations where the village wants traffic signals or pedestrian crossings.

“Our reply back to them wasn’t so much that they need to hire an engineer,” Flick said Friday. “We were just asking why it was they felt either there was a problem or a need to have something addressed at those intersections. That way we’ve got a starting point when it comes to analysis and justification, and it allows us to make good decisions when it comes to siting pedestrian crossings and locating traffic signals.”

Some of the questions the village should answer could be about accidents or close calls at the intersections, or if there’s nearby development that warrants a signal or a crosswalk.

“It’s no more complicated than that,” Flick said.

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Truck ban signs

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Later in Monday’s meeting, village officials talked about another traffic issue they may try to solve on their own, keeping big trucks out of downtown. The village wants DOT to install signs on the state highways through the village advising truck drivers of the ban on large trucks on parts of Main Street and Broadway, but the state wants the signs put on village streets first.

Sweeney said he got “about the same answer” from DOT when he asked the department about putting up truck ban signs on the state roads.

“They again referenced the portion that’s the village’s responsibility to install,” he said.

“Well, let’s put them where we want them,” Van Cott said. “Putting one by the post office doesn’t make any sense at all.”

Rabideau said there are other organizations that post signs on state routes 3 or 86.

“Let’s put our own signs up,” he said. “What if they say take them down? It doesn’t matter. They’re up now.”

Trustees suggested locations on state highways where the signs could be put up, including LaPan Highway, River Street and Bloomingdale Avenue.