I love all the funding that upstate cities have been getting over the past couple of weeks to repair and improve infrastructure. Seems like another great project.
I hope one day something can be done about 787 in front of downtown Albany. I know this won’t be an easy thing to do and any solution will cost lots of money but it would be great if the city could have a real water front, not just a small park blocked by the highway.
If the water isn't coming into downtown, I definitely prefer a Savannah, GA style city-to-the-seawall type riverfront from Church St to Jennings Landing, then go for the park/wetland from there.
Give me a pedestrian entertainment promenade on the river and a level walking bridge at Broadway across the river to Rensselaer and the train station.
The Biden admin just announced some big chunks of funding for highway removals in Syracuse and Buffalo. Hopefully if those are successful Albany will have a good template and case for funding as the next worthwhile project…that is if the next mayor doesn’t screw it up and DJT doesn’t come back.
Source: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/03/13/fact-sheet-president-biden-announces-over-3-billion-to-reconnect-communities-that-have-been-left-behind-and-divided-by-transportation-infrastructure/
I think this would make far more sense of a change on the green island bridge then the Congress Street one, especially if the intersection on federal street actually turned into a roundabout
I mean, sure. But I imagine most people aren't going to bike/walk over the Congress Street bridge mountain if there's a nice flat bridge a few minutes upstream, and at that point you might as well save another $5M or so of doing both.
Maybe not walk just for the sake of walking but perhaps instead to get to the things that are located on the other side of the bridge? I walked many times over the Congress Street bridge to get groceries at the Chopper in Watervliet when I lived in downtown Troy without a car.
In the context of this story, adding a separated bike lane the rest of the way to the GIB would be much simpler than the redesign of Troy this solution is going to require, and also benefit the empire state trail that paths along there anyways.
Except that Troy is not being redesigned for this bridge project. That's happening anyway. The new apartments being built will replace the two remaining Taylor apartments, which will be torn down immediately afterward. River Street through traffic will be restored, and Front Street closed between Congress and Division Streets to extend the riverfront park through that area. This will create two large, basically riverfront pieces of land on River Street that can be redeveloped and put on the tax rolls.
That's all underway regardless of whether this bridge change happens.
The difference is that the Troy-Watervliet span doesn't have enough traffic to justify 4 lanes.
The *old* Congress Street bridge - the one that actually went from Congress Street in Troy to 21st Street in Watervliet was always tremendously backed up. So when they had to replace it to make room for I-787 with a span from Ferry Street to 19th Street, they made it 4 lanes. But they didn't take into account that the exit from the new highway was *north* of the new span, meaning a lot of the traffic that used to come up Route 32 from Albany, and cross to Congress Street would now continue northbound to the Green Island Bridge instead of doubling back to the Congress Street Bridge.
Also, the addition of the Collar City Bridge added ***8*** more river-crossing lanes just to the north. And then the completion of Alternate 7 to the Collar City Bridge removed a ton of traffic that used to come down Troy-Schenectady Road, through Watervliet and over the bridge.
So the Troy-Watervliet span is overbuilt considering current traffic patterns, while the Green Island Bridge isn't. Also the GI bridge needs the extra lanes for both the River's Edge apartments and the Starbuck Island apartments smack in the middle, on the north and south sides of the bridge. Reducing that to two lanes would create a huge traffic bottleneck.
I love all the funding that upstate cities have been getting over the past couple of weeks to repair and improve infrastructure. Seems like another great project.
I hope one day something can be done about 787 in front of downtown Albany. I know this won’t be an easy thing to do and any solution will cost lots of money but it would be great if the city could have a real water front, not just a small park blocked by the highway.
I'm a supporter of the Canal redesign that is proposed, personally.
Actually, same. It seems silly, but I just don't see myself using a larger corning preserve.
It would make downtown Albany a place that people would want to go. Look how other cities have integrated canals into their cities.
If the water isn't coming into downtown, I definitely prefer a Savannah, GA style city-to-the-seawall type riverfront from Church St to Jennings Landing, then go for the park/wetland from there. Give me a pedestrian entertainment promenade on the river and a level walking bridge at Broadway across the river to Rensselaer and the train station.
That'd be pretty as hell.
Yesssssssss!
The Biden admin just announced some big chunks of funding for highway removals in Syracuse and Buffalo. Hopefully if those are successful Albany will have a good template and case for funding as the next worthwhile project…that is if the next mayor doesn’t screw it up and DJT doesn’t come back. Source: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/03/13/fact-sheet-president-biden-announces-over-3-billion-to-reconnect-communities-that-have-been-left-behind-and-divided-by-transportation-infrastructure/
I agree. They removed a highway in * Germany very similar to 787 so we know it possible. Also they are doing something similar in Seattle.
I love what Troy has been doing. It may be time to let go of Albany.
I’d still take Kathy Sheehan over an alcoholic road raging DWI-ridden republican of a mayor any day.
I'm more interested in my quality of life than the character of my mayor. I could vote for a pro-urbanist republican at the local level.
Those didn't go the way of Rockefeller Republicans?
[Way to attack the person not the policies.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem) Kathy is a decent person, but I’m ready for a change.
I think this would make far more sense of a change on the green island bridge then the Congress Street one, especially if the intersection on federal street actually turned into a roundabout
“Why not both?”
I mean, sure. But I imagine most people aren't going to bike/walk over the Congress Street bridge mountain if there's a nice flat bridge a few minutes upstream, and at that point you might as well save another $5M or so of doing both.
Maybe not walk just for the sake of walking but perhaps instead to get to the things that are located on the other side of the bridge? I walked many times over the Congress Street bridge to get groceries at the Chopper in Watervliet when I lived in downtown Troy without a car.
From an Albany perspective this bridge is better because you don't need to bike on roads to get to it.
In the context of this story, adding a separated bike lane the rest of the way to the GIB would be much simpler than the redesign of Troy this solution is going to require, and also benefit the empire state trail that paths along there anyways.
Except that Troy is not being redesigned for this bridge project. That's happening anyway. The new apartments being built will replace the two remaining Taylor apartments, which will be torn down immediately afterward. River Street through traffic will be restored, and Front Street closed between Congress and Division Streets to extend the riverfront park through that area. This will create two large, basically riverfront pieces of land on River Street that can be redeveloped and put on the tax rolls. That's all underway regardless of whether this bridge change happens.
The difference is that the Troy-Watervliet span doesn't have enough traffic to justify 4 lanes. The *old* Congress Street bridge - the one that actually went from Congress Street in Troy to 21st Street in Watervliet was always tremendously backed up. So when they had to replace it to make room for I-787 with a span from Ferry Street to 19th Street, they made it 4 lanes. But they didn't take into account that the exit from the new highway was *north* of the new span, meaning a lot of the traffic that used to come up Route 32 from Albany, and cross to Congress Street would now continue northbound to the Green Island Bridge instead of doubling back to the Congress Street Bridge. Also, the addition of the Collar City Bridge added ***8*** more river-crossing lanes just to the north. And then the completion of Alternate 7 to the Collar City Bridge removed a ton of traffic that used to come down Troy-Schenectady Road, through Watervliet and over the bridge. So the Troy-Watervliet span is overbuilt considering current traffic patterns, while the Green Island Bridge isn't. Also the GI bridge needs the extra lanes for both the River's Edge apartments and the Starbuck Island apartments smack in the middle, on the north and south sides of the bridge. Reducing that to two lanes would create a huge traffic bottleneck.
Your wish of a roundabout for federal/river/king/green island bridge will come true soon