Route 36 in Ogden will close as part of 531 project
NYS Department of Transportation
DOT starts $15 million project to reconfigure the end of Route 531
OGDEN – Beginning on Tuesday, through late November, a short section of Route 36 (Washington Street) will be closed to traffic between Route 531 and Colby Street in the town of Ogden, Monroe County, the state Department of Transportation announced today.
This closure prohibits access from Washington Street northbound to the Route 531 expressway. Similarly, westbound traffic on Route 531 will be prohibited from turning left onto Washington Street to go south. All westbound traffic on Route 531 must turn right, towards Route 31.
North/south traffic on Route 36 will be detoured to Route 31, to Route 259 or Route 260, to Colby Street back to Route 36 during most of the construction season. Note: Local traffic will be permitted to residential driveways from the south.
Additionally, the Route 31 eastbound auxiliary entrance ramp to Route 531 will be closed. Traffic will proceed to the intersection of Route 31 and Route 36.
The DOT has started a $15 million project to reconfigure the end of Route 531 in Ogden. The project won’t extend the expressway west towards Orleans County.
This project is a direct result of the Route 531 Extension Study that was concluded in 2009. It was determined that the expressway would not be extended and Route 31 would not be widened.
However, the information collected during the study indicated that spot improvements to improve safety and reduce congestion at the existing Route 531 terminus as well as along the Route 31 corridor.
Since this new project was initiated to address the needs at the terminus, the DOT has looked at several possible alternatives and measured them against the purpose and need statement. Each involves a significant change to how the intersection at Route 531/36 and 31 operates today.
The project consists of a conventional four-legged, at-grade, signalized intersection at Route 531 and Route 36. The Route 531 to Route 31 transition would be just south of existing Route 31, along the existing eastbound on-ramp.
Route 531 would connect directly to Route 31 and would transition from a four-lane expressway to a two-lane rural arterial west of Route 36. The main through movement that currently turns right onto Route 36, then left at the proceeding Route 31 / Route 36 signalized intersection would continue straight along Route 531 to Route 31.
Route 31 would be widened to add a center median to separate the eastbound and westbound travel lanes from where the “new” Route 531 lanes tie into Route 31 all the way to just east of Gallup Road. Former Route 31 would be transformed to a cul-de-sac approximately 2,000 feet west of Route 36, which would continue to provide access to the residential homes located on the north side of Route 31.
