Otter Creek Pl (Tim Bennett/Cortland Voice).
At this week’s Common Council meeting, Cortland resident, Angela Gellatly spoke expressing her concerns on the dangers pedestrians face on the small street of Otter Creek Pl.
Otter Creek Pl. is a small and narrow road where cars come in both ways.
Many cars that go through Otter Creek are forced to drive down the sidewalk throughout the day endangering people’s safety. Especially those walking down the road.
Damaged sidewalk on Otter Creek Pl because of vehicles driving over it. (Tim Bennett/Cortland Voice).
“It’s only supposed to be one car at a time, but it's a two way,” said Gellatly. “It is only big enough for it to be one-way. So what is happening is that people are driving on the sidewalk to make it a two-way lane.”
Not only are people driving down the side walk, but they also turn into the street very fast, especially from Groton Ave. and therefore putting people’s safety at risk.
“At times some cars probably go around 40 miles per hour taking that corner,” said Gellatly. “That is very fast considering this should only be a one-way street. There could be a car there pulled by the side walk causing an accident. It’s just dangerous."
“I’ve seen near car crashes already,” added Gellatly. “I have also seen pedestrians jump back because they have almost been hit by cars turning left from Groton Ave. People go so fast at the corner; they don't have time to react on time with there being a little of a blind spot when turning.”
One of the main functions of Otter Greek Pl. is that it serves as a cut-through to get from Groton Ave. to Tompkins St. in order to save time from going a little bit further to turn into Broadway Ave instead.
“I spoke to the Deputy Sheriff after the Common Council meeting,” said Gellatly. “They had come out to put one of those speed radar machines to see what the traffic volume is and get an idea of how fast people are going.”
The best case scenario according to Gellatly would be if the city of Cortland can make the road a no left turn from Groton Ave.
