I ws just thinking the same thing last night when I got off the thruway. It does look pretty bad.

I'm for the wildflowers

Wildflowers would be great, but now we have hay.

Isn't this a problem that isn't a problem. Really, no one looks at the tall grass in the thruway circle. Drivers are too busy trying to get out of the circle in one piece!

I like the idea of letting it grow, too (it would be pretty if flowers grew and would save the county money, too), but what are the chances a lit cigarette might start a fire? I might be wrong (I hope I am), but we stand the chance of a brushfire on a very busy traffic area. Has anyone looked into this?

I think there is more of a chance of fire if you cut it and let the cuttings dry out. That's what causes brush fires. If you let nature take its course and just let the grass grow, it would be filled with tall grass, wild flowers and it would not dry out. Take a look around during the dry months and you will see those lawns that are cut short and have fertilizer and pesticides added to it need to be watered but those that are allowe to grow a little longer are green and healthy. Why do we think we can improve on nature?

phototaker, thanks for the heads-up.

The real problem is that stupid MOUND in the center of the Traffic Circle which blocks your view of other cars careening around the turn! What is the purpose of that thing? It makes it so you have no chance to time your acceleration by judging the gaps between other cars!

Why couldn't this circle just have been built with bricks in the center like MOST roundabouts are nowadays? Then we wouldn't HAVE to worry about mowing weeds anymore!

In the almost 8 years it's been there, you'd think the problem of annual landscaping would have been addressed by now!

I think wildflowers would be great along the OUTSIDE perimeter, but with some minor changes, less maintenance would be required overall.

I think it should be re-designed so that the least amount of upkeep would be necessary... Because we know how "wonderful" New York State is about maintaining our infrastructure... *cough cough*

Personally, I have no problem whatsoever at this traffic circle... my car sits high, very good visibility but so many cars put the driver very low to the ground and that could change the situation there a great deal. Maybe that's a design factor not considered in the design of the traffic circle.
And I do sympathize with your problem... I don't know who to direct the problem to, what state or county office... and it is important that the owner of the road know that some drivers are having a tough time navigating the circle... might be a whole lot of people share your sentiment.
Google is absolutely brilliant in giving you a start towards finding the "owner"...
NY State dept of Transportation, or Ulster County dept of Transportation (these people are very good indeed...)
See if one of us doesn't find someplace to direct this problem to, and post the result? Let us know what you find?

i think its nys dot's responsibility. i think they were busy on koenig boulevard!

How anal-retentive is that? Next thing you know, you'll want to send all the Indians to reservations and wipe out the bison. Yikes!

ny dot maintains it

331-5533

"The real problem is that stupid MOUND in the center of the Traffic Circle which blocks your view of other cars careening around the turn! What is the purpose of that thing? It makes it so you have no chance to time your acceleration by judging the gaps between other cars!"
Turns out that same mound was criticized by a Michael Wallwork http://www.roundabouts.net/Roundabouts/Welcome.html.
This is a man that has designed and built something like 80 of the things.
He explained how a mound like that really does mess up a driver.
Several problems with that traffic circle, new as it is.
Great meeting on 587 held by the County... Dennis Doyle, Jennifer Schwarz-Berky

the valuable ideas u provided do help our team's investigation for my company, thanks.

- Lucas

the lawn not being mowed is for the same reason a lot of grass along side roads is not being cut anymore. There is no money to pay for it. The budget cuts in many cities and states are deep and lawn and grass are not top of the list. Someone wants it mowed, then they need to volunteer to maintain it. That is what it is coming down to.

I have never seen so much overgrowth along side of our roads and highways around here. There are literally tree branches almost falling on top of cars all over the place. What do we pay our highway crews to do? Why even pay our taxes when they aren't doing the job we put them there to do? I expect more from my government, and we, the people, shouldn't let them get away with this theft of our money.

MOW THE LAWNS, TRIM THE BRANCHES, AND FIX THE ROADS! THAT IS WHAT YOU ARE PAID TO DO!!!!!

good, if you want everything mowed and trimmed, then be the first to pay more taxes. The state is broke and facing a deficit, along with the towns. The last thing on the list is mowing. Thed top is roads, sewers, things that matter.
This atitude that we pay our taxes doesn't fly anymore. They cut costs, laid people off to balance budgets, made cuts where they need to and had to. Be thankful we have roads to drive on, and thankful for everything else we have and take for granted.
There is a adopt a highway or road program, someone can adopt the traffic circle.
The first thing people see when they come to town is the same thing they see in their towns. It is not any different..

We DO pay our taxes! New York State has the highest taxes in the nation! And what do we get for it? NOTHING! We get crappy roads, decrepit bridges, overgrowth beyond compare, urban blight, and choking traffic!

Mowing the weeds and cutting back brush is part of doing the WHOLE JOB, not just this disjointed, little-bits-and-pieces approach the State of New York has taken on these things for the past 40 years! Do the WHOLE JOB, clean up your act, and if the government officials REALLY wanted to attract more TOURIST DOLLARS, then they would at least make the town look ATTRACTIVE to people wanting to visit here! Instead, tourists come here and find giant potholes, broken concrete curbs, rusty guardrails, 1920's-style traffic lights, and Amazon jungle-like WEEDS and BRUSH everywhere along side of the roads and highways!

I expect MORE out of my government!

I expect my government officials to DO WHAT THEY ARE PAID TO DO!!! Their 6-figure salaries and taxpayer-subsidized pensions need to be DRASTICALLY CUT even MORE than they already are!

This is ridiculous! Your type of "status quo" thinking is EXACTLY why New York State is in the financial mess we are in! Because people are LEAVING and the tax base is SHRINKING, precisely because of these types of quality-of-life issues.

If it were up to me, PRIVATE COMPANIES would be taking care of these issues and maintaining our roads because GOVERNMENT ISN'T DOING THE JOB!!!!!!!

and this state is dealing with a multi-billion dollar deficit, along with counties having the same proble, along with cities. The person who was doing one or two jobs is now doing 4 or 5. They cut back on employees and time spent on needed things. I agree we pay a decent amount of taxes, plenty. But at the moment, that is not enough. They delay cutting along the thruways, county roads, citiy.
if you can figure out a way to get it all done with no money to pay for it, they might listen. I'm not arguing. Status quo, until things get better, is about the best it will be. The adopt a road program works good. No reason why it can't work for the traffic circle. And covering the surrounding states for work, I can tell you we are not alone in delayed cutting.
Cut the salaries of those making a bunch and retiring very well, you have my vote. people and business are leaving because they cannot afford the taxes here, not because of the grass. I am from the west coast originially, and taxes there were lower than the price we pay to live in NY..

I think this issue is ready to close - unless someone has more comments, I will close.