Tag Archives: City Review

by Lorenz M. Worden | June 3, 2016 · 6:48 pm

“Fix it” at the Albany Public Library

On May 13, 2016, staff from the Albany Public Library, the Capital District Transportation Authority, Capital Roots, Capital Region Complete Streets, and the Albany Bicycle Coalition celebrated the installation of three Dero-brand Bicycle Fixit Stations at branches of the Albany Public Library. The photos tell the whole story:

Mike of the Albany Public Library who installed all the stands. He appears here with his handiwork at the Arbor Hill Branch
Man of the Hour – Mike
The first “customer” – Albany Police Department Police Officer re-attaches his toe clip.
This is GREAT!
Executive directors Amy Klein of Capital Roots and Michael Franchini of Capital District Transportation Committee confer
Conference
Riders at the stand at the New Scotland Ave. Branch
Delaware Ave.
Riders at the stand at the Delaware Ave. BranchThe Albany Public Library and Albany Bicycle Coalition successfully applied to the Capital District Transportation Authority for funding under its Traffic Safety Ambassador Program. Each service area of the Albany Public Library now has a repair stand conveniently located near the front of each host branch.
New Scotland Ave.

A Press Conference was held at the Arbor Hill/West Hill Branch (148 Henry Johnson Blvd.) followed by a group ride to the Bach Branch fixit station (455 New Scotland Ave.) and to the Delaware Branch fixit station (331 Delaware Ave.)

The Traffic Safety Ambassador Program made $20,000 in Federal funding available for capacity building projects designed to assist public, private, and non‐profit organizations in the Capital Region in providing bicycle and pedestrian safety education and training. This program works to achieve the following New Visions 2040 goals: 1. Improve bicycle and pedestrian safety by reducing the number of vehicle crashes involving bicyclists and pedestrians and 2. Increase the number of bicycle and pedestrian trips (especially commuting trips) in the Capital Region.

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by Lorenz M. Worden | May 16, 2016 · 11:03 am

Finally ! Ribbon Cutting for Rail Trail

Ribbon Cutting for the Albany County Rail Trail from Albany to Delmar – Mon, 5/23, 10:30 AM

Monday
May 23
10:30 am
Where? – On the trail at Stewart’s, 309 Delaware Ave. Delmar.

Albany County will hold a ribbon cutting and celebration of the completion of the latest phase of the Albany County Helderberg Hudson Rail Trail. County Executive McCoy, Bethlehem Town Supervisor Clarkson, and Executive Director of the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy King will mark the opening of the three-mile trail between Delmar and South Pearl St.

Bliss!

What’s Next?

There is a cooperative effort to pave the four miles of trail from Adams St. to Firefighters’ Park in Slingerlands to be completed this year. The Delmar-Voorheesville portion is scheduled for 2017.
At the other end of the trail in Albany, under city contract, Alta Planning + Design are conducting a feasibility/design study of this critical 1.3-mile connection between the S. Pearl trailhead and the Corning Riverfront Park/Albany waterfront. See the preferred route here.

$5,000,000 Project at the Waterfront

Get Active – What’s Goin’ On?

Albany Bicycle Coalition Event Listing (UPDATED 5-23-16)

ACHHRT & South End Bikeway Link – Thursday, 6/2, Howe Library, 105 Schuyler St. – Alta Planning + Design – Public workshop to gather comments on the South End Bikeway Link. Visit: albanywaterfrontconnector.weebly.com.: Open house – 5:00 – 5:30, Project Overview – 5:30 – 6:00, and: Open house (cont’d) – 6:00 – 7:00.
Uncle Sam Trail Historical and Nature Walk – Sat, 6/4, Troy. www.transporttroy.com and http://www.capitalroots.org/
Hudson Valley Regional Bike Conference – Sat, 6/4, Kingston. http://nybc.net/
Tour de Cure – Ride Marshalls and Techs Needed – Sun, 6/5, 2,500 riders. The ride needs Route Marshalls to guide the five rides and for “mechanics” to perform basic, simple adjustments. (Bicycle shop staff will handle complex issues.) Contact Brent – bmp4sw@gmail.com
Albany County Helderberg Hudson Rail Trail Ride (Mohawk Hudson Cycling Club) – Sat, 6/11, 9:30 am. http://www.mohawkhudsoncyclingclub.org/calendar/rides/2016/06/11/helderberg-hudson-rail-trail-bethlehem-waterfront
Grafton Rocks MTB – 6/11, Grafton State Park (Saratoga Mountain Biking Association) (http://saratogamtb.org/) – mountain biking festival, family friendly, group rides, demos, classes. ABC will have a booth – can you help? Contact Rob – rc9043@gmail.com
Cycle the Sam Community Bike ride with the Collar City Ramble – Sat, 9/24. www.transporttroy.com, http://www.capitalroots.org/ or contact Erin – healthycommunities@capitalroots.org

A Trike, A Trailer, and A Tiger

Cleaning the Uncle Sam Trial in Troy – 4/23/26 – The photo says it all – Albany Bicycle Coalition member David with a trailer of trash from the trail

Eight hours of work produced five bags of trash and an additional bag left behind on the trail. Two more bags resulted from a return visit on the following day. It’s all good …

Uncle Sam Trail Clean Up 4-23-16

A Visit Out West – Bicycle Lanes in Olean

In an on-going search for New York State cities where bicycles are welcome on the “main drag,” a recent review of Union St. in sunny Olean (300 miles west of Albany), reveals a four-lane superhighway with diagonal parking and multiple traffic lights being reduced to two motor vehicle travel lanes, two bicycle lanes, diagonal parking, and several roundabouts. The “under construction” photo tells it all. Traffic calming!

Traffic Calming in Olean

For more on New York State cities who want people on bicycles on their main streets, go here.

What else is there to see? The 6.2-mile “Allegheny River Valley Trail” is a paved route along its eponymous river. It circles around and through the St. Bonaventure University campus and then passes along the north side of town back to the city center.

Allegheny River Valley Trail

For selected trips, this trail – although intended primarily for recreation – would constitute a great commuter route. While the trail does not completely circumnavigate the city, it connects to some attractive low-traffic streets so that a complete circle can be enjoyed.

Regrettably and like many other similar trails, you have to KNOW that it exists and you have to KNOW the entry points. Why spend 1,000s on a trail and not 100s on some simple signage?

Not to be out done by the City of Albany, Olean is proud of its own extensive “tank bomb” marshaling yard where the black tankers stretch as far as one can see. The photos taken while stopping at the Twist and Shake soft ice cream store show nicely how the tankers can be appreciated from the River Valley Trail. Neat! North of Olean, there is an endless stream of tankers (full? empty?) sitting in Haskell Valley along I-86.

Tank Bombs and Ice Cream

More Tank Bombs and Ice Cream

Valley Bomb Train

Heading back toward Metroland, the Village of Waterloo (birthplace of Memorial Day and just west of that of the Women’s Movement in Seneca Falls), sports bicycle lanes on its main street through town – which is also Rts. 5 and 20.

Waterloo Welcomes People on Bicycles!

And where is Albany? With the exception of 0.8 miles of bicycle lanes on Clinton Ave. and another 700-1,00 feet on Northern Blvd, nada. At this rate, the City of Albany will have a whopping 3 or so bicycle-lane miles when its Bicycle Master Plan reaches its planned 20-year completion date.

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