Possible speed limit reduction for Old Post Road No. 4


 

NORTH EAST — Things may be slowing down for Victor Kaczor and his family, and that suits him just fine.

That’s because the Kaczor clan lives on Old Post Road No. 4, a town road without a posted speed limit. Thus the speed limit automatically defers to the state speed limit of 55 mph, which Kaczor claims is too fast for the farm road, home to many families with young children.

That’s why Kaczor, and his wife, Lydia, approached the Town Board with a request to lower the speed limit. The couple was especially concerned with fast-moving traffic as they operate a preschool from their home on Old Post Road No. 4.

"Kids play on the street, people walk on the street," he said. "There’s no sidewalks, so there’s no choice but to walk on the street.

"It’s dangerous, really dangerous," he said. "It’s basically a town road, but it’s like a farm road. There are tractors with big buckets going up and down the road, when they come around a blind turn they could hit someone and they would be dead."

In the past, the Town Board has not taken steps to lower the limit. At its business meeting in August, however, the board revisited the issue and at its Sept. 11 business meeting, the issue was again discussed.

In the end the board chose to make a submission to the New York State Department of Transportation for a speed limit survey for Old Post Road No. 4. That request will first have to pass through the hands of Dutchess County Department of Public Works.

"We have a lot of roads where 55 mph is not an appropriate speed, but they’re not marked for a lower speed limit," town Supervisor Dave Sherman said, adding that he’s waiting for the survey results before making a determination as to the best speed limit for Old Post Road No. 4. "In New York state people are expected to drive according to the condition of the road. You see it more in Connecticut, where there are limits that go back and forth as you go down the road. They don’t tend to do that in New York."

There’s no timeline regarding when the county, or the state, will get back to the town with its review of the speed limit.

Latest News

Walking among the ‘Herd’

Walking among the ‘Herd’

Michel Negroponte

Betti Franceschi

"Herd,” a film by Michel Negroponte, will be screening at The Norfolk Library on Saturday April 13 at 5:30 p.m. This mesmerizing documentary investigates the relationship between humans and other sentient beings by following a herd of shaggy Belted Galloway cattle through a little more than a year of their lives.

Negroponte and his wife have had a second home just outside of Livingston Manor, in the southwest corner of the Catskills, for many years. Like many during the pandemic, they moved up north for what they thought would be a few weeks, and now seldom return to their city dwelling. Adjacent to their property is a privately owned farm and when a herd of Belted Galloways arrived, Negroponte realized the subject of his new film.

Keep ReadingShow less
documentaries

Fresh perspectives in Norfolk Library film series

Fresh perspectives in Norfolk Library film series

Diego Ongaro

Photo submitted

Parisian filmmaker Diego Ongaro, who has been living in Norfolk for the past 20 years, has composed a collection of films for viewing based on his unique taste.

The series, titled “Visions of Europe,” began over the winter at the Norfolk Library with a focus on under-the-radar contemporary films with unique voices, highlighting the creative richness and vitality of the European film landscape.

Keep ReadingShow less
norfolk library

New ground to cover and plenty of groundcover

New ground to cover and plenty of groundcover

Young native pachysandra from Lindera Nursery shows a variety of color and delicate flowers.

Dee Salomon

It is still too early to sow seeds outside, except for peas, both the edible and floral kind. I have transplanted a few shrubs and a dogwood tree that was root pruned in the fall. I have also moved a few hellebores that seeded in the near woods back into their garden beds near the house; they seem not to mind the few frosty mornings we have recently had. In years past I would have been cleaning up the plant beds but I now know better and will wait at least six weeks more. I have instead found the most perfect time-consuming activity for early spring: teasing out Vinca minor, also known as periwinkle and myrtle, from the ground in places it was never meant to be.

Planting the stuff in the first place is my biggest ever garden regret. It was recommended to me as a groundcover that would hold together a hillside, bare after a removal of invasive plants save for a dozen or so trees. And here we are, twelve years later; there is vinca everywhere. It blankets the hillside and has crept over the top into the woods. It has made its way left and right. I am convinced that vinca is the plastic of the plant world. The stuff won’t die. (The name Vinca comes from the Latin ‘vincire’ which means ‘to bind or fetter.’) Last year I pulled a bunch and left it strewn on the roof of the root cellar for 6 months and the leaves were still green.

Keep ReadingShow less
the ungardener

Matza Lasagne by 'The Cook and the Rabbi'

Matza Lasagne by 'The Cook and the Rabbi'

Culinary craftsmanship intersects with spiritual insights in the wonderfully collaborative book, “The Cook and the Rabbi.” On April 14 at Oblong Books in Rhinebeck (6422 Montgomery Street), the cook, Susan Simon, and the rabbi, Zoe B. Zak, will lead a conversation about food, tradition, holidays, resilience and what to cook this Passover.

Passover, marked by the traditional seder meal, holds profound significance within Jewish culture and for many carries extra meaning this year at a time of great conflict. The word seder, meaning “order” in Hebrew, unfolds in a 15-step progression intertwining prayers, blessings, stories, and songs that narrate the ancient saga of the liberation of the Israelites from slavery. It’s a narrative that has endured for over two millennia, evolving with time yet retaining its essence, a theme echoed beautifully in “The Cook and the Rabbi.”

Keep ReadingShow less
books