New Crosswalk Lights Coming to MCS Elementary School

By David Avitabile

MIDDLEBURGH - New and safer school crosswalk lights are coming to Middleburgh elementary school.

Village officials were informed Monday that in consultation with the state DOT, the Middleburgh Central School administration has chosen a crossing lights system to purchase for the Elementary School Crosswalk, Mayor Tim Knight announced at Monday night's meeting.

It will take about six to eight weeks for the new system to be delivered and the lights to be installed, Mayor Knight told board members. It is expected that the new lights will be installed by the end of June or early July.

The village will install the lights and then turn the maintenance over to the state.

Village board members were very pleased with the news and Mayor Knight said streets superintendent Cole Keyser would be speaking with state DOT officials on the delivery.

In March, Middleburgh school officials said they were continuing to work with the state to repair two broken crosswalk warning lights near the elementary school.

The issue came up at the village board meeting in early March. Village board members and school board members met about the issue.

School officials have never stopped working on repairing the crossing lights, Superintendent Mark Place said in March.

Repairing the lights was not a matter of just a simple application, he said displaying a six-foot long list of applications and other items that the school have applied for to repair the lights. The repairs have to go to an architects and there have been numerous changes in the village government and the local state DOT since the district began to seek repairs, the Superintendent added.

In March, Superintendent Place said the district continuing to work on the permit that is required by the State DOT.

Several village board members in March wondered why the lights had not been fixed.

The crosswalk warning lights on Main Street at Middleburgh Elementary School have not worked for several years and, saying that it was a safety issue, wondered why the lights had not been repaired. 

Mr. Keyser said one of the lights, on the east side of Main Street, was damaged in a vehicle accident a few years ago and not replaced. The light on Main Street on the other side of the street stopped working a few years ago and not repaired.

Under an agreement, the school pays for the lights, the village installs them, and the state maintains them, Superintendent Keyser said.

The lights were added several years ago after a middle school student was struck and injured by a vehicle while he was attempting to cross the street one fall evening.