SKANEATELES - Town officials of years past may see their efforts to improve the town's western entrance become tangible progress as soon as spring.

Skaneateles Town budget officer Bridgett Winkelman shared the town's plans to spruce up a section of Route 20 in the Western Gateway Project during the Skaneateles Area Chamber of Commerce meeting Thursday at Mirbeau Inn and Spa.

The total project will target the western edge of the town, starting around the Red Apple gasoline station and continue to the Skaneateles Village border.

Designs call for creating a more pedestrian friendly corridor, placing a welcome sign at the entrance, softening the stretch with landscaping, and installing curbs.

Chamber Board of Directors President Dick Pitman asked Winkelman to update the board on the undertaking and give some background behind the more than 10-year-old concept.

Winkelman is on the gateway committee and told the 35 chamber members in attendance that the town could begin as soon as the spring and the construction would last about six weeks.

However, the town agreed to set a deadline of Mother's Day in May. If crews can't break ground by then, the town would push back the project to Labor Day in September as to not interfere with the expected summer crowds.

That six weeks is not all road work, she added. Crews will plant trees and shrubs, as well as install sidewalks and a pedestrian walkway.

The town first commissioned a study to improve that span of Genesee Street in 1999, and received a Federal-Aid Transportation Enhancement Grant, through the state Department of Transportation.

Despite remaining in the state coffers for a decade, the money is still available for the town to use for street improvements.

“There are things this project wanted to address. One is safety and to enhance the look of that area,” Winkelman said.

The town has received many complaints of drivers speeding through that section of Genesee Street, which goes from 55 miles per hour, to 40 mph, to 30 mph in the village.

The road's redesign will include several visual cues to motorists that they are entering a stretch of road where they should slow down, but without changing the road's speed limit or structure.

That portion of Route 20 will include striping and putting trees near the street. The state DOT requested curbs along the street to create clear entrances and exits from the businesses in the western part of town.

“The DOT wanted to close (the street) in to give the impression you're moving into a residential area from a rural area,” Winkelman said.

However, these curbs and islands with planting may be the only changes expected to affect nearby businesses. One chamber member asked about the possibility to improving the abandoned gasoline stations that greet drivers as they enter the Skaneateles.

“We decided not to encroach on anyone's property,” Winkelman said.

“We're trying to improve what we can in our scope of the project,” she added.

Dr. John Maurillo asked about the possibility of other organizations partnering with the town to have joint signs. The Western Gateway Project incorporates a main welcome sign, but the town board has not decided what the sign will read yet.

The project has changed a lot through the years. At one point, designs included a turning lane, but studies showed the feature wasn't necessary and would have required most of the funding reserved for the entire undertaking.

To pay for the project, the town collected the state grant, totally $342,400. It also is banking on receiving $105,000 from a special improvement district.

Winkelman said many business owners in that targeted portion of the town have signed petitions agreeing to these improvements and this assessment district.

The town will host a public hearing on this special improvement district at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 5, at town hall, 24 Jordan Road.