Hyattsville Council Adds Crittenden Project to List of Uses for Bond Proceeds

Work on won’t begin as soon as the city intended, but some of the funds set aside for that project will in the meantime be used toward work on Crittenden Street.

In August of 2010 Hyattsville issued bonds for about $4.1M. Of those funds, $2.1M was for the city’s five-year street rehabilitation program. $1.9M was for the University Hills streets. $50K was for work on City Hall and another $50K was earmarked for sidewalk connectivity projects, according to City Treasurer Elaine Stookey.

“We realized not too long ago that we weren’t going to be able to start construction on University Hills as soon as we thought,” she told the City Council at a Nov. 7 public hearing about the bond proceeds.

“It made sense to use that money for ,” she said.

In order to get the Ward 1 work going, the council needed to add that project to the acceptable uses for bond proceeds, she said.

“We’re not saying we’re not going to do any of University Hills with the money but we can start Crittenden because we added this [use],” Stookey said.

The city should be getting cost estimates on the Crittenden Street project soon, said Mayor Marc Tartaro.

“We would anticipate construction will start in the spring,” he said adding that the construction documents are close to 30 percent complete.

“That will be presented with budget and schedule—[we’re] working now on permits…--and should have it by mid-to-late winter,” he said.

The funds will used to reconstruct Crittenden Street from Route 1 to the intersection in front of , but won’t change the actual intersection beyond adding additional crosswalk lines.

Roadwork is part of the project, which also includes making an accessible trail linking Crittenden to the and reworking sidewalks, Tartaro said.

Stuart Eisenberg of 40th Place—which branches off Crittenden—said the street hasn’t been worked on for more than 20 years.

“It’s very unsafe,” he told the council, adding that his family is looking forward to the reconstruction.