U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was in town Monday to tout his effort to secure funding to support the city’s effort to enhance safety and accessibility at two railroad crossings in Kingston. If approved, the $3 million grant would nearly complete the $9 million funding package for the project which will redesign the crossings at Foxhall and Flatbush avenues.

The project is intended to address a notoriously accident-prone section of Midtown by installing pedestrian crossing infrastructure, new safety gates and a shelter for pedestrians waiting for trains to pass. The project also includes installing sidewalks, narrowing driving lanes to slow traffic through the intersection and design changes to discourage drivers from attempting to get around the safety gate — a source of a number of local car vs. train accidents in recent years. The project would also close off access to Foxhall Avenue from Cornell Street, eliminating a dangerous turn.

“It’s an unsafe situation,” said Noble at a press conference outside of the Ulster County Hall of Records Monday afternoon. “So our request for funding to be able to be able to get this project done is critically needed here.”

In addition to Noble, Schumer was joined at the press conference by Ulster County Executive Jen Metzger and County Clerk Nina Postupack. Schumer, who helped secure a $21 million grant — the largest in city history — for improvement projects on the city’s waterfront called the effort of Foxhall a key component in bridging the gap between Midtown’s residential neighborhoods and the Rondout business district.

“Here in Midtown Kingston, residents will be able to easily walk downtown, but ask anyone who traverses Foxhall and Flatbush avenues and they’ll tell you it’s no easy task,” said Schumer. “These streets should be the main routes downtown where so many want to get good jobs, shop, enjoy the restaurants and just have a nice stroll.”

Noble said the design phase of the project, underway since 2022, is “99 percent complete.” While the city has already secured $5 million in local and state funding for the plan, if the $3 million is approved the project will be just $1 million short of its total estimated cost. Noble added that the next step in the process would be acquiring rights-of-way from property owners, an effort he estimated would take about a year. Noble added that if Schumer failed to deliver the $3 million, he would split the project into two phases and ask the Common Council to use local funds to carry it out.