Category Archives: Activisim

Ramble in Troy – A Great Day

The Schedule

L: Jim registers the Mayor

R: Transport Troy is more than bicycles

“Ride Leader for Life” organizes the ride

 

I need one of those …

Parks & Trails NY and the City of Troy set up a Bikeway, a protected bile lane/cycle track, and a bile lane to show what can be done.

Forget your bicycle?  No problem!

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Filed under Activisim, City Review, Rides, Transport Troy

What’s Going on With Madison Ave.?

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAFor the past several weeks and probably for several more, there has been and will be extensive street work on Madison Ave. You’ll see a lot of traffic cones, heavy equipment, workers in hard hats, dust and dirt, pipes, re-paved strips, and so on. This is in preparation for the final phase of the Madison Avenue Traffic Calming project – Partridge St. to Lark St. This “below surface work” must be done before the repaving and re-striping of the roadway. It appears that these last phases will be done in this fall with installation of traffic control signals to follow.

Completion will mean 1-1/2 miles of sane motor vehicle traffic with left turn lanes, cross walks, and new traffic control devices and signs. It will also mean that people in cars can go no faster than the car ahead of them – hopefully, the posted 30 mph or less. No more crazy passing on the right or using the parking lane as a through lane.OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The continuation of the bicycle lanes from Allen-Partridge to Lark St. will provide people on bicycles with a smooth, safe ride Pine Hills Neighborhood Association to “downtown.”

It remains for people who want better bicycle facilities in the City of Albany (this would mean YOU) to start pushing for continuing the lanes past Manning Blvd. to connect to the current bicycle lanes in Guilderland and then on to Crosse Gates. Accompanying this must be mapping of cross town and downtown routes from Lark St./Delaware Ave. For suggested routes, see the BikeAlbanyMap.

None of this will happen unless there is a big and sustained push from those who want a livable Albany.

So get cracking!

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Filed under Activisim, Madison Ave. Traffic Calming

Livingston Ave. Rail Road Bridge ~ Where Are We?

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Sadly, the 1902 Livingston Ave. Rail Road Bridge – the only east-west passenger RR crossing of the Hudson – seems to be nowhere as far as being replaced. The plan seems to be to let it fall in the river, or, as in the case of the Crown Point NY-Vermont Bridge, have it declared unusable so we can spend scrillions on “emergency” replacement. Then everyone can pat himself or herself on the back for having “saved the day.”

People on bicycles who want a water-level route across the river to access Rensselaer or Albany are counting on Amtrak/Conrail/NYSDOT et al. to reinstall a pedestrian/bicycle patch on the new bridge.

To learn more, go to the Livingston Ave. Rail Road Bridge Coalition site – http://livingstonavebridge.com/home/where-have-you-been/

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Filed under Activisim, Corning Riverfront Park, Livingston Ave RR Bridge, Mohawk-Hudson Bike-Hike Trail

NYS 3’ Ride

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Many Mohawk-Hudson Cycling Club and Albany Bicycle Coalition members joined a ride to promote changing NYS’s safe passing law. We need to specify a minimum passing distance (e.g., 3 feet) – see: https://albanybicyclecoalition.com/2016/02/22/3-foot-passing-law/ ) Currently, NYS essentially says, “pass safely” which – as any person on a bicycle knows – can mean anything from 4 inches up.

The New York Bicycling Coalition organized the ride as part of its long-standing effort to bring New York State’s law up to date.

Go here for more on the law, go HERE.

Many riders wore special “3-foot jerseys” and then rode the loop around the Capitol once for each foot. We noted the relationship to the proposed “Felony Reckless Driving and Vulnerable Users of the Public Highway (Creto/Kade) Law” – see: https://albanybicyclecoalition.com/2015/11/09/felony-reckless-driving-and-vulnerable-users-of-the-public-highway/

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Filed under Activisim, Law, Support the Cause

The Mayor Rides to Work

Once again, Mayor Sheehan invited people on bicycles to join her for a ride to work on 5/16. Riders assembled at the Pine Hills Branch of the Albany Public Library and then followed the Mayor along our superb bicycle lanes on Madison Ave. and then over to Myrtle Ave – following the BikeAlbanyMap route. We swung back to Madison Ave. for a press conference at the Downtube Bicycle Works hosted by the owner and the staff of the 3 Fish Café. There was celebratory mention of the soon-to-be-completed Madison Ave. bicycle lanes, the new skate park, the South End Bikeway Link plans, and the BikeAlbanyMap. It was then off to City Hall for Cider Belly doughnuts (still warm) and coffee.

All in all a nice event and a testimony to the city’s commitment to cycling.

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Filed under Activisim, Ride to Work