"Taking into consideration the Village Board's knowledge and understanding of the community and the desires of the community, NYSDOT decided to progress the alternative presented in the public hearing as the preferred alternative."
Mayor Randy Holcomb read that line into the record at the October 26 meeting of the Lakewood Board of Trustees. It came from an email by Cameron Schulz, the state Department of Transportation's regional design engineer. It also settled a question that had been open since late May: which version of Fairmount Avenue Lakewood will get when construction starts in 2027.
Lakewood is getting the plan the state showed at Busti Town Hall in March. The trimmed alternative it put forward in May is out. The deciding factor over the summer was a set of letters from the Village Board, which the state said showed "overwhelming support" for the hearing version. For anyone who walks, bikes, or turns left along Route 394, that one decision sets where the new concrete goes.
What the state committed to in October
The project carries NYSDOT's identification number PIN 506437. The state describes it as restoring pavement on Route 394 from Route 474 to the City of Jamestown and building new sidewalk that connects Ashville Road to the existing sidewalk at Shadyside Avenue.
The hearing version, as NYSDOT's March 3 announcement laid it out, has three parts:
- A mill and overlay of the existing asphalt from Winch Road to Elmcrest Avenue
- New sidewalk on one side of the road from Ashville Road to Shadyside Avenue
- A new center two-way left-turn lane between Shadyside Avenue and Elmcrest Avenue
WRFA's report from the hearing gave the street-level detail. The sidewalk runs on the south side only from Ashville Road to Erie Street, then on the north side only from Erie Street to Shadyside Avenue. Paper copies of the plans are at the Village Clerk and Treasurer's office for anyone who wants to look up their own block. The Village of Lakewood website posts board minutes and office information.
How the plan got smaller, then came back
The March version had already been cut back a lot. At the hearing, Paul Presutti, a senior associate at the consulting firm Erdman Anthony, told the room the proposed sidewalk had shrunk from about 22,000 linear feet to 9,400, a cut of more than 57 percent. He said retaining wall installations were down by more than 75 percent and tree removals by 50 percent, and that the state would work with property owners to replace affected trees and shrubs.
After that, the plan changed hands like this:
- 2023 and 2024. NYSDOT held community meetings to gather input on the corridor.
- March 5, 2026. About 50 people came to the public hearing at Busti Town Hall, 125 Chautauqua Avenue. Thirteen people commented, and WRFA reported that 12 of them opposed the project. Written comments were accepted through March 18.
- May 27, 2026. Schulz wrote to Mayor Holcomb and Busti Town Supervisor Jesse Robbins with an "adjusted preferred alternative." He said it balanced safety against "a strong public desire to minimize intrusions caused by new sidewalk placement."
- Early June 2026. Village trustees came out against the adjusted version, and NYSDOT asked for the village's comments by Friday, June 12, before it signed off on a design.
- October 26, 2026. The state's reply was read into the record. It cited letters from the entire Village Board and returned to the hearing alternative.
The May letter was the state's response to the hearing. The opposition voiced in March pushed NYSDOT toward less sidewalk. Then the village's elected board, writing on behalf of the community, argued that the less-sidewalk version created problems of its own. The state's October email gave the board's letters the credit for the final call.
The two versions, segment by segment
Here is how the plans compare along the corridor, based on the Post-Journal's June 3 account of the May letter and the March hearing plan:
| Element | March hearing plan, now preferred | May 27 adjusted plan, set aside |
|---|---|---|
| Sidewalk near the Route 474 end | South side, Ashville Road to Erie Street | South side, Route 474 to Green Street |
| Sidewalk toward Shadyside | North side, Erie Street to Shadyside Avenue | North side, Shadyside to Chautauqua Avenue |
| Chautauqua Avenue to Green Street | Covered by the continuous one-side route | No new sidewalk |
| Center two-way left-turn lane | Shadyside to Elmcrest | Shadyside to Elmcrest |
| Resurfacing | Winch Road to Elmcrest Avenue | Winch Road to Elmcrest Avenue, with paving breaks raised by the mayor |
That last row needs explaining. The May letter listed resurfacing from Winch Road to Elmcrest Avenue. When Holcomb responded in June, though, he said the paving should be "left the way the original was, with all paving on the 394, without stopping at Chautauqua Avenue and restarting again at Green Street or the viaduct." Trustee Scott Cooper made the same argument in the Post-Journal's June 10 report. He called segmenting the sidewalk "a really disservice to our community" and said "not doing the additional paving, I think, creates additional potential safety hazards."
The board did not all see it the same way. At that June meeting, Trustee Ellen Barnes said a sidewalk in the Chautauqua-to-Green stretch would take a large share of some front yards and bring foot traffic about 10 feet from front doors. The October email still described the full board's letters as backing the hearing version.
What a continuous route connects
The state's case for the sidewalk rests on people already walking the road. In May, Schulz wrote that NYSDOT had reviewed pedestrian counts showing "pedestrian use of NY Route 394." He said the north-side piece would "close a critical gap in sidewalk between the village and the urban center." Along the southern stretch near Route 474, he listed the kinds of places people walk to: an ice cream shop, mini golf, a cinema, and a plaza.
You can put names on that list. Lakewood Golf Center at 4341 W. Fairmount Avenue has miniature golf, a driving range, and a pro shop. Mulligan's Golf & Fun Center at 4467 West Fairmount Avenue rents private entertainment suites with digital golf and arcade and VR activities. Lakewood Cinema 8, run by Dipson Theatres, has been posting showtimes this fall. Under the March plan, the sidewalk past these stretches connects to the rest of the route toward Shadyside without the gap the May version would have left between Chautauqua Avenue and Green Street.
The crossing point is where the March plan drew the most specific objection. At the hearing, Barnes raised a concern about Fairmount Avenue and Big Tree Road, where walkers would cross from one side to the other through heavy summer traffic. NYSDOT officials told WRFA at the time that the March plan included no new traffic lights and no crosswalk at Fairmount Avenue and Big Tree Road. Because the state has now gone back to that plan, the intersection is worth checking on the copies at the Village Clerk's office.
What 2027 looks like on the road
NYSDOT's project page for PIN 506437 still lists the project as "In Development" and gives these approximate dates:
- Bid opening: Winter 2026/2027. The department's October 2026 proposed letting list puts PIN 506437 in March 2027.
- Construction start: Spring 2027
- Completion: Winter 2027/2028 on the current project page. The March announcement gave December 31, 2028.
The state says two-way traffic will stay open during construction and there will be no detours. The project page lists the cost at about $4.8 million, paid with federal and state money and no local share.
A second, separate state job is coming to the five-way intersection. The Post-Journal reported in June that NYSDOT is preparing to acquire the property it needs to rebuild pedestrian signals, curb ramps, and sidewalks there to meet Americans with Disabilities Act standards. Busti approved a permanent transfer to the state of 23 square feet of right of way from the town's War Memorial. A DOT real estate specialist said that work would not begin before spring or summer 2027. That means two separate state projects in Lakewood both have 2027 as their earliest start, and the state sets the schedule for each. The village's main decision, which version of the sidewalk gets built, was settled at the October 26 meeting.
A new sidewalk out front or a center turn lane changes how a Route 394 home shows once the work is done. At The Nielsen Wroda Team, we follow corridor projects like this block by block. If you're on Fairmount Avenue or just off it and want a value that takes the 2027 plan into account, get an instant home valuation and we'll follow up with what we're seeing on your street.
