WATERTOWN — The latest draft Coordinated Transportation Plan for Jefferson County is available for review, detailing how the county and city of Watertown could coordinate to make a better public transit system.
The plan document is required every five years in order for the county and city to quality for a Department of Transportation program that provides money and support for building out public transportation systems in rural regions.
“In this document, we discussed duplication of services and services that are mainly available to disadvantaged populations,” said Brandi Smith, the Greater Watertown mobility manager and drafter of the transportation plan. “In this plan, we discussed how we can improve transportation in Jefferson County and the city of Watertown.”
The plan takes a survey of the socioeconomic conditions of the county and the closest population centers in neighboring counties, like Gouverneur in St. Lawrence County and Lowville in Lewis County.
Officials found in their research for the plan that populations that are more likely to rely on public transit, like those with disabilities and senior citizens, tend to live in the city of Watertown, where the Watertown CitiBus service is available. Carthage has a higher-than-average number of people with disabilities living there, and older adult populations in general are focused similarly, sticking to the city and village centers.
Low-income households are most commonly found in the city of Watertown, on Fort Drum and in Carthage, Lowville and Gouverneur according to the report.
According to the transport plan, 8.9% of households outside the city of Watertown lack access to a vehicle, and are spread relatively evenly across the county. Half of the households within the area deemed to be “downtown Watertown” by the U.S. Census Bureau do not have access to a car.
For people who move throughout the county regularly, 70% of people said their commute to work is their primary reason for traveling, and about 80% of people said shopping was their main or secondary reason for traveling.
The city of Watertown is the most common place to travel to, with Fort Drum, the second-largest population center, coming in as a close second.
The plan’s accompanying surveys polled respondents on which transit corridors they would prefer to see developed further. In the first poll, respondents from the city of Watertown and Fort Drum could choose from a pre-determined list or create their own corridors, and in one poll could select just three priorities.
Of those respondents, 40% listed a transit corridor connecting Dexter, Brownville, the Watertown International Airport and Jefferson Community College as their priority, along with a line connecting Watertown to Fort Drum and a line connecting Watertown to Carthage.
In the second poll, respondents from Adams, Antwerp, Black River, Brownville, Carthage and West Carthage, Clayton, Deferiet, Dexter, Evans Mills, Gouverneur, Lowville, Philadelphia and Sackets Harbor were sought. These respondents, polled between August and November of 2018, were asked about their interest in seeing a transportation corridor connecting their town to Watertown, and how likely they would be to use such a service.
The highest level of interest in a new line was for a Lowville to Watertown route, but the line with the most likelihood of use was a Black River to Watertown route, followed by an Adams to Watertown route.
Mrs. Smith said, based on what she’s seen, it’s clear that any transportation development in Jefferson County would need to connect to the systems established in Lewis and St. Lawrence counties, and would need to connect to the city of Watertown.
“I think we can all agree, the city is where the county’s education, medical services, employment and food sources are all located most densely, so ultimately the plan calls for extending routes out there that feed into the Watertown city bus system.”
A series of public hearings will be held across Jefferson County, so residents can hear more about the transportation plan and offer their own input.
On Tuesday, a meeting will be held at the Northern Regional Center for Independent Living at 210 Court Street in Watertown from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., and another will be held at the Hawn Memorial Library on John Street in Clayton from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
On Wednesday from noon to 1 p.m., a meeting will open in the Village of Alexandria Bay offices on Walton Street.
On Thursday, one meeting will be held from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. in the town of Champion Municipal Building, 10 N. Broad St., West Carthage, and a second will be held from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. at the Sackets Harbor Ballroom at 103 West Main Street in Sackets Harbor.
The last meeting will be Thursday from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the town of Adams offices, 3 S. Main St., Adams.
Residents can view the full draft plan online at https://www.watertown-ny.gov/JeffersonCountyCoordinatedTransportationPlan.
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