TROY – The city’s $10 million South Troy Industrial Road project designed to get tractor-trailers off local streets, cut pollution in the neighborhoods and spur economic growth has hit a roadblock as Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin has not signed off on the final documents, city and county officials say.

Mayor Patrick Madden and the city’s county legislators, all Democrats, this month wrote McLaughlin, a Republican, asking him to sign the documents that were hand-delivered to the county attorney’s office Sept. 20.

“Despite numerous contacts by City staff, we are unable to get from your office the executed documents for the already agreed upon project. This has seriously delayed our ability to begin this important project,” Madden wrote McLaughlin in a Nov. 4 letter that a county source provided the Times Union.

The Legislature and county Industrial Development Agency had approved transfers of property to the city necessary for the road project to proceed, according to the city. City officials have received no word on what’s going on from McLaughlin.

“It’s a win-win for everybody We don’t know what the problem is. I don’t know why he’s doing this, said Minority Leader Peter Grimm, D-Troy.

Democrats have suggested that the routine matter was probably caught up in a mayoral race in which McLaughlin supported the unsuccessful minor party candidacy of Rodney Wiltshire, an enrolled Democrat and former city council president. A recording of a verbally abusive meeting at GOP headquarters in which McLaughlin and Republican operatives pressured Republican candidate Thomas Reale to drop out and endorse Wiltshire became an issue in the final days of the campaign.

In his campaign, Madden touted as one of his achievements the road's pending construction and economic merits such as expansion of the city tax base. The road would run about 1.3 miles from Adams Street south to Main Street. It would bypass the residential areas to the east, taking truck traffic off the local streets. The project is seen as opening up access to the industrial land tracts, both developed and undeveloped, between the Hudson River and First Street.

"Construction of the roadway will unlock long-vacant former industrial sites for redevelopment. Additionally, it will help redirect heavy truck traffic away from residential areas, helping to increase quality of life and reduce wear and tear on City streets. These opportunities are mutually beneficial for both the City and County, bringing new jobs and economic activity to Rensselaer County," Madden wrote McLaughlin.

The city planning department said McLaughlin’s signature is need for a “permanent easement for a small length of sidewalk across from the Rensselaer County jail” and a temporary easement to "abate and demolish" a small brick building owned by the Troy Local Development Corp. that encroaches four feet onto county property across from the county jail.

The city need the paperwork in order to take the project out to bid. The road has been discussed since the 1990s and has only just reached to point where it can be built.

The county executive’s office issued a statement Wednesday in response to questions about the project and communications between the county and city.

“We look forward to continuing negotiations with the City of Troy on the issue of the easement in South Troy. The easement issue dates back years, over various administrations,” Richard Crist, the county director of operations and a spokesman for McLaughlin, said in the statement.

“We will also be discussing privately with city officials some promising economic development news for that general area and how we can work cooperatively on that issue," Crist continued.

City officials were still awaiting word from the county Thursday.

“Since these documents are post negotiation and only require the county executive’s signature, it is unclear as to why they have yet to be executed. Multiple requests to the County on this matter have been met with little or no response,” Steven Strichman, the city commissioner for planning and economic development, said in a statement Thursday.

Strichman said repeated calls to the county IDA about land that was to be transferred also have gone unreturned.