Westchester has spent the last two years looking at ways to make certain roads safer, and on Tuesday a task force released its findings of improvements needed on the Bronx River Parkway.

The Wrong-Way Task Force was launched after a double fatal crash on I-287 in 2020. They looked at the entire parkway, exits and intersections before issuing safety recommendations, including the installation of 160 new signs along the road.

The task force also recommended adding wrong way signs to the backs of existing speed limit signs every 4,000 feet, enhancing street lighting and exploring real-time notifications for errant drivers. "I can see how easy it is, and it doesn't get any more dangerous than that. And I can see how they could make a mistake, but now I see these wrong way signs up there, it's got to be a big help," says Bill McKeon, of Bronxville. "If people would start paying attention to the signs, then they'd have more effect on it," says Eugene Burke, of Yonkers.

"We recognize that accidents happen, and they can't be eliminated or prevented in the absolute, but we also know that there are things that we can do," said Westchester County Executive George Latimer. 

There were 12 wrong-way incidents in 2020, six in 2021, and just two so far this year.

"We want to look at it over a period of time and to determine if we've made some long-term positive impact on it," says Latimer. 

The county plans to add more police officers to the parkway and add 22 pavement arrows later this year.

The county gave its report to the New York DOT hoping it could use it as a guide to address issues on state-owned roads like the Saw Mill River and Hutchinson parkways.