All Over Albany

Here are the upgrades in the mix for the commercial strip along New Scotland Ave in the Helderberg neighborhood

New sidewalks. New lamp posts. New trees. Maybe some safer pedestrian crossings.

Those elements are in the mix for the commercial strip along New Scotland Ave between Quail and Ontario, one of Albany's most vibrant neighborhood retail spots. (It's the strip with The Fountain, Restaurant Navona, Albany Ale & Oyster, Sake Cafe, the Capital City Gastropub and many other establishments.)

There was a public meeting about the planned upgrades this past Monday (as mentioned). Here's a quick recap about what's up.

Monday evening about 50 people gathered in the basement of the First Congregational Church of Albany to hear about what's in store for the strip.

The city has hired the Chazen Companies to lead the design of the project. And Linda Stancliffe, a landscape architect with the firm, presented the outline of the plan.

"When you get done it will be a breath of fresh air," she told the crowd about the project.

Concept diagram

There's a concept diagram for the project at the top in large format -- click or scroll all the way up.

Proposed upgrades

Sidewalks
The centerpiece of the project is the redesign and replacement of the sidewalk along the commercial strip. Many of the sidewalk segments are uneven, and Stancliffe said the curb ramps aren't compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The new sidewalk will also be about a foot wider, taking space from the street.

Also planned: new benches and bike racks.

New sidewalk/curb arrangement
One of the complications in replacing the sidewalk is making sure all the elevations line up in a way that works with the storefronts and the curb so that the slopes are ADA compliant.

One of the main proposed fixes is a two-tiered sidewalk. A new six-inch curb will be installed along the street. From there a strip of sidewalk will extend a few feet toward the storefronts -- it will include space for trees and lamp posts. Then another curb-like rise of about 6 inches. And then the main sidewalk will extend to the buildings. (It's easier to just look at the diagram above here.)

The tiers allows two things:

+ A gradual slope for the main sidewalk.

+ The ability to use the lower level of the sidewalk as a place to store snow during the winter.

Stancliffe said the sidewalk layout would be similar to the layout of the sidewalk along the commercial stretch across from St. Peter's Hospital a mile to the west on New Scotland.

Lighting
To go along with that new sidewalk: New lamp posts that include lighting for both the street and the sidewalk. The decorative posts have one lamp toward the top that focuses on the street and another lamp, lower and perched on the opposite side of the pole, that's focused on the sidewalk.

Trees
Also: The project calls for new replacement street trees, the leaf canopy of which can be trimmed up to a level of about 6 feet or so and will allow some light through. Stancliffe said the idea is to create a canopy that provides some shade but also visibility for the storefronts from the street. (She said the project would be working the city forester on picking the specific varieties.)

The crosswalk at Grove.

Pedestrian safety upgrades
Two main pedestrian safety upgrades that are possibilities:

+ The intersection of New Scotland and Quail is relatively wide because of its alignment and the curve of the east-side curb. So Stancliffe said they're looking at possibly adding curb bump-outs there to reduce the curb-to-curb distance for crossing pedestrians.

+ The sidewalk across New Scotland at Grove is both a popular crossing spot -- and notorious for how often vehicles don't stop for pedestrians. Stancliffe said they're considering the installation of a button-activated flashing beacon for the crossing, similar to the one just down street closer to Albany Med. That crosswalk is also in line for new striping and the addition of those "teeth" markings that encourage drivers to stop short of the crosswalk.

Pedestrian safety was a frequent topic of questions from the public during the meeting. And it points to the need for the city to maybe figure out an overall plan for calming traffic along the whole New Scotland Ave corridor. (Presumably that will be a component of the study that's in the works.)

Cost and timeline
Reps from Chazen said the goal is to have the project ready to go out for bids in the fall with an eye for getting in the queue with contractors for spring 2019 construction. Stancliffe said business owners along the strip will be consulted about staging of the work. Work will probably take 60-90 days.

And the cost? Chris Spencer, the city's commissioner of planning and development, told the crowd that a final cost hasn't been determined yet because the design isn't finalized. But money for the project will come from a pool of roughly $1 million the city has bonded for these sorts of projects.