Items tagged with 'Washington Ave Corridor Study'

Here are some of the options for remaking upper Washington Ave in Albany

Washington Ave corridor study bike lane option

One of the options would re-stripe the road to include bike lanes.

The part of Washington Ave by UAlbany and the Harriman State Office Campus is a weird stretch. It's really wide. All sorts of ramps slip on and off it. There's been a lot of development, but it's hard to get from one thing to another. Pedestrians dart across it. And the speed limit probably feels frustratingly slow for drivers.

So: Are there ways to fix some of these issues, making the street work better and feel better for all sorts of people -- pedestrians, cyclists, drivers?

For the past six months the Washington Avenue-Patroon Creek Corridor Study -- a collaboration between the Capital District Transportation Committee, city of Albany, University at Albany, and engineering consultants -- has been looking into that question.

And Thursday evening during a crowded public meeting at UAlbany the engineers showed off a trio of possible designs for making over the road...

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Here's a chance to see options for reshaping Washington Ave

Washington Ave corridor study meeting 2018-March annotated map

A crowd-annotated map at the March meeting.

The project looking at a possibly safer, friendlier, better version of upper Washington Ave in Albany has a public meeting lined up for November 8 at UAlbany to show off a handful of options for the road. Blurbage:

Please join us for the second public meeting about the Washington Ave/Patroon Creek Corridor Study. This meeting will present three roadway design options, focusing on traffic operations and tradeoffs. There will also be an an opportunity to provide your input on these alternatives for this important corridor. We hope to see you there!

You might remember there was a public meeting this past March to provide an overview of the current state of the road and get input about how people might like to see it changed. Complaints expressed then ranged from concerns about speeding to the design being unfriendly to pedestrians and cyclists to a confusing layout of connections.

Notable from that meeting was the consultants explaining that the road's current capacity is much greater than its actual use. They reported that the highest-volume segment gets 19,500 vehicles per day. That's a fair number of vehicles, but it's still below the threshold recommended by the feds for considering a road diet treatment similar to what was done on Madison Ave.

This segment of Washington Ave has been getting a lot of attention in recent years because of the ongoing development along the corridor, including the addition of private student housing and the resulting increase in pedestrians. (Another large private dorm just opened this fall.) As a first step in addressing some of these concerns, the city of Albany lowered the speed limit on the stretch from 45 to 30 mph in 2016.

This next meeting is Thursday, November 8 in University Hall on the uptown UAlbany campus. There's an open house at 4:30 pm, presentation at 5 pm, Q&A at 5:30 pm, and feedback at 5:45 pm.

Thinking about the future of Washington Ave

Washington Ave corridor study meeting 2018-March annotated map

Could there be a safer, friendlier, better version of upper Washington Ave in Albany?

That was the question at the heart of the the public kickoff meeting Wednesday for the Washington Avenue-Patroon Creek Corridor Study. The Capital District Transportation Committee is working with the city of Albany, the University at Albany, and engineering consultants to look at how the important transportation artery could work better for all sorts of people -- pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers.

This topic has been popping up a lot in recent years because of the ongoing development along the corridor, including the addition of private student housing. As a first step in addressing some of these concerns, the city of Albany lowered the speed limit on the stretch from 45 to 30 mph in 2016.

"We want to know from the users of the road, the neighbors of the road, what you think of the road, what you think the problems are," CDTC executive director Mike Franchini told the crowd.

Here are three quick takeaways...

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The Scoop

For a decade All Over Albany was a place for interested and interesting people in New York's Capital Region. It was kind of like having a smart, savvy friend who could help you find out what's up. AOA stopped publishing at the end of 2018.

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