Reported by Monique Tirion
Lots of participants contributed, way back before the pandemic, in drafting a winning $10 million “DownTown Revitalization Initiative” or DRI, for Potsdam. Two of the winning projects include a Streetscape enhancement and a Riverwalk. Requests for proposals for these two projects were sent out and 3 companies returned proposals to develop ideas and design-specifications for contractors. (If anyone is interested in perusing these proposals, Potsdam’s village Clerk can email the PDF documents upon request.)
The Streetscape and Riverwalk projects include redesigns for the area enclosed by the Raquette river, Sandstoner Dr. overpass and Market St, an area including the Children’s Museum, several restaurants, stores and businesses, as well as the Potsdam Square Mall. The Riverwalk trail will run along the overpass and swing around the guard rails behind Mama Lucia to follow a planned mural-walk beneath the overpass to join the Garner Park walkway. The Riverwalk will continue along Raymond St, which will be redesigned to be inviting and pedestrian-friendly, to Market St., on to Maple St. and back to Sandstoner Dr. at the yet-to-be-developed “Pocket Park” next to the former Martin’s Maple St. Services. There may be a spur of the Riverwalk trail leading to an overlook along the western shore of the Racquette River, alongside and behind the Thai cuisine restaurant and next to Swan Landing.
In addition to DRI funding, the village was able to secure further funding in order to introduce a connector road linking Depot St. (just past Potsdam Tire) and Raymond St. The introduction of a roadway here will likely smooth traffic flow and circumvent the use of parking lots as throughways. Discussions will include whether the needs of our community would be better served if Raymond were designated one-way East-bound or West-bound. Ideas, suggestions or comments about traffic flow issues can be submitted to the 5 elected board members who vote to fund projects based on their understanding of what best helps the village thrive.
Image from Fisher Associate’s Downtown Streetscape Renovation and Riverwalk Trail Project proposal. NOTE: Depot St is incorrectly labelled Raymond St.
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