More development in Albany's Park South neighborhood: a Panera is going in at 50 New Scotland Ave, Chris Churchill reports (map). The corridor is now jammed with new development, and the Albany Med expansion is still ahead. It's good to see the activity -- but the traffic along there is going to be be tough at times.
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Comments
I work nearby, and the traffic in that corridor is already pretty terrible...by Albany standards, anyway. Combine the hospital traffic with the colleges and the occasional ambulance coming through, and at times the area of New Scotland between Madison and Holland feels like a tiny parking lot.
Still, better traffic and development than desolation and empty buildings.
... said LB on Sep 23, 2010 at 5:05 PM | link
i love the development. the streetscape is looking awesome, and we NEED a Panera there!! and to think, that area was once blighted!!!!
as for the traffic, there are so many ways to circumvent that little stretch of road, so i suspect these alternates might be better traveled in the future. Even if not, traffic in albany can only slow you up 5- 10 mins max, as opposed to many other cities.
... said laura s on Sep 23, 2010 at 11:54 PM | link
My worry would be that someone would want to try to advocate for an extra lane or two of traffic on New Scotland, both in the Park South neighborhood, and further up the hill on New Scotland, to solve the "traffic" but instead create a speedzone. The New Scotland neighborhood up the hill is a great, walkable neighborhood (and Park South looks to be on the verge of a boom), but cars already zip through the two lanes of New Scotland (even before the recent, and much-needed, paving job), passing on the right, hitting the gas at yellow lights and blowing through red ones near the PS school, near the crosswalks at the Stewart's/Fountain/Wine Shop strip, at the intersections at Academy Ave. and up at Main Ave., etc. I suspect the lanes are wide for the ambulances, not so someone can blast through there. Don't get me wrong -- I love seeing the development and investment in our city, especially along New Scotland -- so long as everyone remembers what makes it great -- that it's not a place to drive through (and quickly at that), but rather a destination. The paving job is great, and they added bike lane markings, which is a fantastic step in the right direction. I hope that kind of thinking continues, and I'm optimistic it will. I'll take the continued growing pedestrian and bike friendliness than a car blasting through a highway-like 4-lane stretch at 45 mph, creating an unsafe and unwelcome feeling.
... said Beaver on Sep 24, 2010 at 8:06 PM | link
I have to agree about the traffic, its a mess and getting worse, the crosswalks at NSA and Holland are unmarked or non existent, and its all but impossible to turn left out of any of the institutions on NSA. With the order of magnitude increase of the occupancy of the developed area is going to quickly become a winter disaster.
... said Brian on Sep 24, 2010 at 11:43 PM | link