The Department of Motor Vehicles in West Haverstraw — Rockland’s only DMV office — will be closed for the foreseeable future.

Mold is being removed from the facility. It was discovered about three weeks ago when a water leak in the office above the DMV was scheduled to be fixed.

The office, which was shut down March 9, was only expected to be closed for two days. A few days later, the state DMV extended the closure for another week.

At 9:30 this morning, more than a dozen people showed up to the office located in the Samsondale Plaza, completely unaware. A few people said it was their second or third visit in the past three weeks.

They found two large orange signs informing them that the office was closed due to construction and listing five DMV offices in Westchester and Orange.

Information about the nearby DMVs, and the services they offer, is available at the DMV’s Web site or by calling the DMV info line at 718-477-4820.

I’ll have more about this story tomorrow in my Getting There column in The Journal News.

Metro-North Railroad’s Hudson line train schedules will change slightly between April 5 and July 11 due to track maintenance but the schedule for the Tappan ZEExpress bus service at Tarrytown station will not be altered.

Because of track work, Metro-North train riders may experience wait times 2 to 13 minutes longer than normal during the mid-day on weekdays and throughout the day Saturdays.

Metro-North Railroad trains will be more crowded, some rides will take longer, and Grand Central Terminal won’t be cleaned as often under the service cuts the MTA finance committee approved today (Monday.)

Also, fares are set to jump dramatically — 25% and more — in the middle of the year.

These are the fare and toll hikes and service cuts of the doomsday scenario the MTA has warned about if they don’t get help from Albany.

Here’s a list of the proposed cuts for Metro-North Railroad, which is a division of the MTA.

You can find the new fares that will hit if Read more of this entry »

Here comes Westchester’s share of the stimulus bucks.

A bridge that takes Odell Avenue in Yonkers over the South County, shown below, will be the first project in Westchester to benefit from the federal stimulus funds — and the largest of five current projects.

Westchester County’s Board of Aquisition and Contract approved a $2.8 million contract yesterday to rebuild the bridge with funds from the $787 billion national bailout — I mean, stimulus package. The other Read more of this entry »

Good news for anyone else who put a little too much faith in their GPS while driving across the Green Lane railroad crossing in Bedford. Metro-North Railroad says reflective “delineators” have been placed between the tracks to show where the road continues across them.

This is the place where, twice last year, motorists drove onto the tracks because their Global Positioning System told them to.

The state Department of Transportation has plans to change the grade there to improve visibility and make the tracks easier to cross. Meanwhile, these delineators — each three feet high — mark off the path of the road. They’re reflective, so drivers will be able to see them at night.

Meanwhile, to help anyone who may have trouble getting through the crossing, I’ve provided this helpful map:

Good luck!

This one comes from across the pond in Ireland (as reported in The Irish Times), but I couldn’t resist mentioning it here.

Police in Ireland were befuddled for a while by a notorious driver from Poland, Prawo Jazdy, who racked up more than 50 driving violations in various places, each time giving a different address. They began to think Read more of this entry »

Life is art, someone famous once said. I can’t remember who it was, but no matter. Improv Everywhere, a group of performance artists who engage in surprise acts of “long form improvisation” (read: public stunts) decided to treat the 23rd Street subway station on the Eigth Avenue line as an Read more of this entry »

More than 50,000 people could pack Pearl River’s streets this Sunday to watch the St. Patrick’s Day parade.

Getting there will require some planning. The parade starts at 1:30 p.m. Here are a couple of options:

• By car: Early Sunday morning, Orangetown police will begin putting up temporary “No Parking” signs on many local streets to make way for the parade route and ensure emergency vehicles can get through on narrow side streets. The streets will be shut down at 11 a.m., and remain closed until the evening. Drivers will have to find places where they can legally park on the street since Pearl River doesn’t have a municipal parking lot. Police recommended carpooling if you must drive there or parking further away and walking. Read more of this entry »

The Volt, Chevy’s entry into the world of battery-powered cars, is now more rounded — and it’s not even on the street yet.

Chevy just sent me an update on the car the company is developing as an alternative fuel vehicle, and that’s Read more of this entry »

A controversial plan to reroute air traffic over the Northeast, including sending hundreds of planes a day over Rockland, will be heard in federal court in May.

Rockland County and 11 governments and organizations from Delaware to Connecticut are suing to prevent the Federal Aviation Administration from fully implementing its New York-New Jersey-Philadelphia Metropolitan Area Airspace Redesign project.

The critics claim the FAA did not properly take noise, air pollution and efficiency into account.

Rockland is serving as lead petitioner in the case, which will be heard in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Oral testimony starts May 11.

It could take months for the court to issue its decision, which then could be followed by appeals.

So I get home last night and there’s an envelope in my mailbox telling me it holds my economic stimulus check.

Great, I think. I’ll have this baby spent in no time.

But I open it, and two things catch my attention. One is the size of the “check:” $7,000. The other is the Saturn logo in the upper left corner. Read more of this entry »

Residents of the Esther Gitlow Towers in Suffern can again catch the bus right from their apartment complex.

The Transport of Rockland (TOR) Loop 3 bus has resumed service after several months now that construction of a new building has finished, the county’s Department of Public Transportation said today.

The buses will once again serve the main entrances of the buildings at the affordable senior housing complex in both the eastbound and westbound directions.

Loop 3 travels between Suffern and Monsey, with some trips extended to the Nanuet Mall. The bus service offers a way for seniors who don’t drive to get to stores and supermarkets along Route 59 in Ramapo.

When Sen. Charles Schumer stopped by the New Rochelle train station to spread good news for commuters today, I couldn’t resist asking him about the issue that’s weighing heaviest on the minds of rail and bus passengers:

What about those rescue measures that are supposed to help stave off Read more of this entry »

There’s a good chance you don’t even know that you can get a tax break with the money you spend commuting to work, but only if your employer participates.

Well, if that’s good news to you, get ready for this: Read more of this entry »

It’s Monday, and what better way to start off the week with a press appearance by U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer? The New York Democrat is due at the New Rochelle train station in less than an hour to talk about the increased federal tax break for people who use mass transportation.

Riders can now claim $230 a month in expenses, up from $120.

Schumer pushed for the change as a way of encouraging more people to use mass transportation.

I’ll be at the press event, at the Metro-North Railroad station just off North Avenue, and I’ll report back later today.