Speed limit changed on County Route 5

NORTH EAST — It’s time to slow down for those traveling on County Route 5 (Old Route 22) in the town of North East. That’s because the Dutchess County Department of Transportation (DOT) just approved a speed limit reduction on County Route 5, between Route 22 and Smithfield Road, from 45 mph to 35 mph.

“The [previous] speed limit there required a very good driver because of the quick turns in that section of road and the sight lines,� said town Supervisor Dave Sherman. “So consequently, based upon that, we made a formal request to the county and the state to consider a 35 mph speed limit earlier this year.�

Sherman said in the previous requests for speed limit changes to other roads have “languished� and taken much longer to be answered. This time, however, the county responded within a matter of months. He said he couldn’t be more pleased.

“For whatever reason this moved along better,� he said. “Now the signs for the new speed limit may be a matter of just switching the panels, so it depends upon what they have in their inventory.

“The main thing is that it’s not a road normally used for through traffic; it’s generally used by local people and unfortunately they have an idea in their own minds as to how fast they can drive,� Sherman said. “It doesn’t mean they still don’t get surprised. Drivers [need to be cautious] and slow down around the curve or they may wind up going off the road; it gets narrow and twisty.�

DOT Transportation Analyst Gayle Curtis is the representative who notified the town of the county’s approval for the speed change. She did so in a letter sent to the Town Board reminding it the roadway is county owned and operated.

“It is the responsibility of the county to install and maintain the proper speed limit signage in accordance with the National Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) and the New York State Supplement to the National MUTCD,â€� she stated, before addressing the signage issue. “This road should also  be reviewed by the Dutchess County Public Works to determine if certain conditions may require the posting of new and/or additional warning signs.â€�

Curtis went on to state the New York State Police at Troop K and the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office will be notified of the speed limit change by the DOT.

The speed change will go into effect as soon as the new signs are posted, according to Sherman.

Latest News

South Kent School’s unofficial March reunion

Elmarko Jackson was named a 2023 McDonald’s All American in his senior year at South Kent School. He helped lead the Cardinals to a New England Prep School Athletic Conference (NEPSAC) AAA title victory and was recruited to play at the University of Kansas. This March he will play point guard for the Jayhawks when they enter the tournament as a No. 4 seed against (13) Samford University.

Riley Klein

SOUTH KENT — March Madness will feature seven former South Kent Cardinals who now play on Division 1 NCAA teams.

The top-tier high school basketball program will be well represented with graduates from each of the past three years heading to “The Big Dance.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Hotchkiss grads dancing with Yale

Nick Townsend helped Yale win the Ivy League.

Screenshot from ESPN+ Broadcast

LAKEVILLE — Yale University advanced to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament after a buzzer-beater win over Brown University in the Ivy League championship game Sunday, March 17.

On Yale’s roster this year are two graduates of The Hotchkiss School: Nick Townsend, class of ‘22, and Jack Molloy, class of ‘21. Townsend wears No. 42 and Molloy wears No. 33.

Keep ReadingShow less
Handbells of St. Andrew’s to ring out Easter morning

Anne Everett and Bonnie Rosborough wait their turn to sound notes as bell ringers practicing to take part in the Easter morning service at St. Andrew’s Church.

Kathryn Boughton

KENT—There will be a joyful noise in St. Andrew’s Church Easter morning when a set of handbells donated to the church some 40 years ago are used for the first time by a choir currently rehearsing with music director Susan Guse.

Guse said that the church got the valuable three-octave set when Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center closed in the late 1980s and the bells were donated to the church. “The center used the bells for music therapy for younger patients. Our priest then was chaplain there and when the center closed, he brought the bells here,” she explained.

Keep ReadingShow less
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Penguin Random House

‘Picasso’s War” by Foreign Affairs senior editor Hugh Eakin, who has written about the art world for publications like The New York Review of Books, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and The New York Times, is not about Pablo Picasso’s time in Nazi-occupied Paris and being harassed by the Gestapo, nor about his 1937 oil painting “Guernica,” in response to the aerial bombing of civilians in the Basque town during the Spanish Civil War.

Instead, the Penguin Random House book’s subtitle makes a clearer statement of intent: “How Modern Art Came To America.” This war was not between military forces but a cultural war combating America’s distaste for the emerging modernism that had flourished in Europe in the early decades of the 20th century.

Keep ReadingShow less