Albany Bicycle Coalition

by Lorenz M. Worden | October 28, 2019 · 6:28 am

South End Bikeway Connector Rumbles Along – 10/26/19

Construction is fully underway on the long-awaited South End Bikeway Connector. [Photos from 10-26-19. For route description, go to end of this post.]

LOOKING NORTH – New CDTA bus stop at Mt. Hope Dr. People on bicycles will ride behind it and then veer off to toward the river and onto the cycle track on the I-787 northbound entry road. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA LOOKING NORTH – The new cycle track on Frontage Road, the I-787 northbound entry road leading to Church and Vine Sts. (“One lane taken form cars, one lane added for bicycles.”) (“Tank Bombs” very much in evidence.)LOOKING SOUTH TOWARD THE RAIL TRAIL – Cycle track replacing the eastside parking along S. Pearl St. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

sebc-two-way-cycle-track-9-13-19

LOOKING NORTH – Cycle track under construction on east/river side of S. Pearl St. Note brave cyclist riding in the motor vehicle lane. There is no choice while the road is under construction. For orientation, note the blue and white Bennet sign to the west. Note pavement cut marks and compare final width shown in Photo #3 and 4. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA LOOKING SOUTH – Helderberg Hudson Rail Trail trailhead and parking lot is to the left just past the pylons.

~ The South End Connector Bikeway Route Description ~

The bikeway begins at S. Pearl St./Old S. Pearl St. in the Helderberg Hudson Rail Trail trailhead and parking lot. Between Old S. Pearl St. and Mt. Hope Dr. and the Frontage Road (the I-787 northbound entry road), there will be a separated, on-street, two-way cycle track. (This two-way feature alleviates the need for people on bicycles to cross S. Pearl St.) The cycle track will continue onto the east/river side of the Frontage Rd. to Church St./Vine St. It will then briefly turn west before continuing on an off-road, 10-foot wide, multi-use trail and linear park underneath I-787 to Broadway and Quay St. To skirt the I-787 support structure, at the Church St./Bassett St. intersection the connector will be on-road until Rensselaer St. Here it again it will shift back off-road until the turn toward the Hudson River, the Slater and Dutch Apple mooring, and the Mohawk-Hudson Bike-Hike Trail/Albany Riverfront Park. To accommodate the connector’s path, Church St. from Rensselaer St. to Bassett St. will become a one-way southbound. Broadway currently consists of four travel lanes – two eastbound and two westbound. One lane on will be removed to construct the multi-use path on the south side of Broadway (where it passes under I-787), resulting in one westbound lane and two eastbound lanes.

Leave a comment

Filed under Albany County Rail Trail, Albany Riverfront Park, City Review, South End Bikeway Connector

by Lorenz M. Worden | October 18, 2019 · 11:02 am

Pay Attention!

Car #1 stops for pedestrian in crosswalk. Car #2 – Dreaming? Texting? Yaking? Eating?

Result?

Pay Attention EB 10-13-19

The backstory is the person slumped in the seat of Car #1 was a passenger on the way to the ER for a post op situation. The driver of Car #1 – even with an ailing passenger – has enough responsibility to stop for people walking. The driver of Car #2?

You’ll witness this identical behavior if you do some test walks on the “circles of death” on Washington Ave. and Fuller Rd. Try it …

+++++

[Photo and story courtesy of Alert Cyclist Ed.]

+++++

Leave a comment

Filed under Comings and Goings, safety

by Lorenz M. Worden | October 13, 2019 · 2:41 pm

Explore the Wonders of Troy

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Once again, Troy’s Transport Troy advocacy group hosted a wonderful Collar City Ramble as part of the Hudson Valley Ramble. It was a beautiful day in the city with the famous Saturday Farmers’ market adding energy to the whole downtown.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Entering the city from the Mohawk-Hudson Bike-Hike Trail and the “serpentine” at the Rt. 378 Bridge. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Part of the Collar City Ramble – in addition to walks and bicycle rides – is free kayak rides on the Hudson from Troy’s new boat launch. (It’s so new that it’s still “under construction” on Google Maps.) Here’s Pam, a Transport Troy and Albany Bicycle Coalition member, acting as “Harbor Master” along with some volunteers (kayaks in the background).

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

What else is there to see? The new mural on River St.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA Here is a view of the developing Uncle Sam Trail running from the Rt. 378 Bridge in South Troy to 101^st St. in N. Troy.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA Progress on the “sea wall” near the Green Isl. Bridge (in the background).

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Riding back to Albany on the Mohawk-Hudson Bike-Hike Trail. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA All in all, a day well spent.

Leave a comment

Filed under Capital Trails-New York, Rides, Transport Troy, Troy Cycling, Uncle Sam Trail

by Lorenz M. Worden | October 7, 2019 · 1:28 pm

Burlington’s Bike Boxes are Beautiful

It’s always great to visit Burlington to see the latest efforts by the city government to make the city more livable for it citizens and more rideable for people on bicycles.

The latest addition is a Bike Box on a major east-west thoroughfare, Pearl St., at its intersection with Union St. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

++++++

Update 10-10-19 ~ The City of Albany has four bike boxes – three at Shaker Rd/Northern Blvd. (see “Bicycle Lanes in the City of Albany”) and one at Madison Ave./Lark St. None has colored pavement as a background color.

++++++

If you are unfamiliar with “bike boxes,” view “How to use a Bike Box” by Streetfilms.

Or, read the instructions.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The basic concept is pretty clear – if you are on your bicycle, traveling in the bicycle lane, and need to turn left (in this case, east bound off Pearl St. onto northbound Union St.), the petrovehicles are stopped before the green box allowing you to safely ride into the box ahead of the cars and make your left turn as soon as the traffic light indicates. See also: https://nacto.org/publication/urban-bikeway-design-guide/intersection-treatments/bike-boxes/

Why have bike boxes? (SOURCE)

Increases visibility of bicyclists.
Reduces signal delay for bicyclists.
Facilitates bicyclist left turn positioning at intersections during red signal indication – This only applies to bike boxes that extend across the entire intersection.
Facilitates the transition from a right-side bike lane to a left-side bike lane during red signal indication. This only applies to bike boxes that extend across the entire intersection.
Helps prevent “right-hook” conflicts with turning vehicles at the start of the green indication.

Typical Applications: (SOURCE)

At signalized intersections with high volumes of bicycles and/or motor vehicles, especially those with frequent bicyclist left-turns and/or motorist right-turns.
Where there may be right or left-turning conflicts between bicyclists and motorists.
Where there is a desire to better accommodate left turning bicycle traffic.
Where a left turn is required to follow a designated bike route, access a shared-use path, or when the bicycle lane moves to the left side of the street.
When the dominant motor vehicle traffic flows right and bicycle traffic continues through as at a “Y” intersection or access ramp.
Provides priority for bicyclists at signalized bicycle boulevard crossings of major streets.
Groups bicyclists together to clear an intersection quickly, minimizing impediment to transit or other traffic.
Pedestrians benefit from reduced vehicle encroachment into the crosswalk.

++++++

Here’s another Burlington feature, a “Neighborhood Greenway” – how nice is that!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

1 Comment

Filed under Bike Lanes, Burlington VT, City Review

by Lorenz M. Worden | September 26, 2019 · 6:13 am

12th Annual Daily Grind Ride – Sat, August 17, 2019

Riders from the Town of Colonie (2), New York City (1), Guilderland (2), Troy (1), and Edmonton (1) joined for the Daily Grind-to-Daily Grind Sponsored Ride. We met at the Albany Daily Grind Café and, after a weather “all clear,” we headed out to Troy using the BikeAlbanyMap.com .

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Albany

After a photo stop at the Albany Riverfront Park we cruised north on the Mohawk-Hudson Bike-Hike Trails. After the preceding night’s heavy storm, we found the multiuse path littered with small branches, leaves, and, in a couple cases, large braches that blocked the trail. Since the weather was beautiful and the riders enthused, we smoothly overtook these impediments.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

We used the serpentine path from the MHBHT at the Rt-378 Bridge to cross into South troy to explore Troy’s new bicycle infrastructure. Our ride coordinator mapped a nice route past the Burden Iron works to get us onto the main Uncle Sam Trail while avoiding the Mill St./High St. craziness.

Troy has outdone itself to welcome people on bicycles with buffered bicycle lanes, Protected Bicycle Lanes, cycle tracks, and (only as intra trail segment connectors) shared lanes. The Albany Bicycle Coalition is proud to announce that it has extended its BikeAlbanyMap to include the Uncle Sam Trail as well as rider-friendly routes into the Town of Colonie, Bethlehem, and Niskayuna.

We arrived at the Troy Daily Grind and enjoyed delicious food and coffee, gracious service, and a nice rider discount. After a relaxing time at the Daily Grind, some headed off to the famous Troy Farmers’ Marker while others enjoyed a sunny ride back to Albany.

Our riders were Pam, John, Cynthia, Herb, Mary Anne, Glenn, Shelly, Wendy (Five Borough Bike Club), Margaret, Lorenz, Maggie, and Mark.

Troy

We’ll look forward to this year’s Collar City Ramble to again enjoy Troy’s bicycle infrastructure.

As a frustrating closing note, we were again amazed that Albany County – after much prodding by the Albany Bicycle Coalition – has yet to attend to the root-damaged portions of the area’s premier multiuse path. People come from all over the USA and the world to ride the Erie Canalway Trail (Empire State Trail) – what must they think?

Take Action on the Bumps – Albany County Executive – Daniel P. McCoy, County_Executive@albanycountyny.gov , (518) 447-7040, Albany County Office Building, 112 State St., Rm. 1200, NY 12207.

MHBHT Roots 10-17 C