To the Editor:

As a Berne Town Board member, I believe it is my duty to correct published misinformation and inaccuracies that have mischaracterized very serious matters of public safety regarding work-zone safety in Berne. I also feel that published misinformation and maladministration of simple highway project should be investigated.

Bridge Road was not closed for the safety of the traveling public on Aug. 1 [“Minivan upended. Who’s at fault,” The Altamont Enterprise, Aug. 20, 2019]. The work zone was inadequate and inconsistent with very basic standards and specifications outlined in New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law. Clearly the safety of the traveling public is at stake here; a vehicle ended up in an excavation on a road that was not closed at the work site.

Attached is a PowerPoint file with numbered slides documenting the circumstances. This fact-based information clearly refutes the misinformation and falsehoods quoted to The Enterprise and posted on Facebook since the incident. The numbers of the pertinent PowerPoint slides are cited throughout this letter.

The Berne highway superintendent has repeatedly published his opinion that town highway operations follow different work-zone standards than state roads and this is simply not true (1).

According to Vehicle and Traffic Law 1680, the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, (the MUTCD), applies to all highways open to traffic in New York State: “The manual and its specifications is adopted as the state standard for traffic control devices on any street, highway or bicycle path open to the public (2). 

When originally adopted that was the state MUTCD. In 2007, New York adopted the federal MUTCD into the Vehicle and Traffic law as well as a state supplement (3).

Since then, the MUTCD was updated in 2009 and the New York Supplement was again adopted (4).  According to the state’s Department of Transportation, town highway departments are to follow the specifications and standards of the MUTCD (5) as this standard is adopted by law (1,2,3,4).

A very misleading and inaccurate letter was published Sept. 5 [“Politics can be ugly,” The Altamont Enterprise].  Among other falsehoods, it misinforms the public claiming that the town of Berne “…utilizes the Cornell University New York State Traffic Sign Handbook for Local Roads” and calls it the “CUNYSTSHFLR.”

The letter Implies this is a different standard for local roads. There is no manual by that name or acronym.  Cornell Local Roads offers a manual simply entitled: Traffic Sign Handbook for Local Roads, 2017, New York State Edition (6).

This manual: “ .. combines and condenses information from both the National MUTCD and the NYS Supplement.”(6)  This is not a different standard for local roads, it is a manual for the interpretation of the same, adopted, state standard for everything from bicycle paths to interstates; the MUTCD (2,4).

On Aug. 1, 2019, the Berne superintendent of highways created a very dangerous work-zone situation. He misinformed the public saying that Bridge Road would be closed at a large culvert for replacement but did not close the road (7).

He posted signs at the nearest intersections indicating the road would be closed (8,9), but apparently failed to indicate where the point of closure is, as required. He also posted a message on Facebook, indicating that this road would be closed “most of the day” at some culvert site, but again failed to identify the point of closure (7).

Most significantly, he failed to actually close the road at the work site where the deep excavation across the road was already taking place. It is no coincidence that a vehicle was discovered in that excavation at 7:40 (8) just six minutes after that posting (7).

The superintendent was not entirely cooperative in providing information regarding the use of barricades to the town board. (10, 11,12,13). There is no evidence that barricades were used at the work site whatsoever. The accident report mentions no barricades and shows no barricades in the schematic (14,15). There are no barricades visible at the work site in the incident photo (16).

For very short-term road closures, flaggers are an acceptable option instead of barricades and signs at the work site but there is no evidence that flaggers were present. In fact, The superintendent’s email of Aug. 7 informs the board that flaggers were down at the highway garage punching in at the time of the accident (10) and there is no mention of flaggers in the accident report (14,15).

The trucker and operator were left to flag? (10) The trucker obviously had to leave the site every time the truck was filled and it appears the operator was not made aware he was responsible for traffic control (and an operator should not be).

Flaggers are acceptable for very short term closures. See MUTCD TA -13, Figure 6H-13 (17). Longer closures require barricades and the “ROAD CLOSED” sign R11-2 at the work site with specific signage and a detour when appropriate. (18,19)

Berne typically mixes things up and uses the R11-2 “ROAD CLOSED” sign at one intersection and the R11-3a “ROAD CLOSED / LOCAL TRAFFIC ONLY” at the other intersection.

The R11-3a is the appropriate sign to use if the work site is beyond. But it is required that an approximate distance to the point of closure be provided on the sign (20). I have not seen a distance indicated on this sign in any Berne projects.

It is a violation of the state’s Vehicle and Traffic Law 1680 and apparently 18 US Code 1701 when the R11-2 “ROAD CLOSED” sign is used at an intersection and the work site is beyond, particularly when mailboxes are between the sign and the worksite. (21, 22)

Any other destination for the traveling public, even field access, should be accommodated and the R11-2 “Road Closed” sign is meant to restrict all traffic to project related vehicles (19). Berne routinely uses this sign inappropriately and in violation (19, 21, 22).

People need to understand that the superintendent of highways continues to put the traveling public at unnecessary risk. He spends most of his time on political matters and his political job in Albany and is apparently unable to interpret the basic standards his operations should follow.

Joel Willsey

Berne Town Board

Editor’s note: We stand by our news story on the upended minivan as accurate.