Can you spot the somewhat sinister smiley face on the Lyon Street Bridge?
The Lyon Street Bridge across the Willamette River has a bike lane and a raised sidewalk, each 6 feet wide. The City of Albany is contemplating a plan to combine them as a 10-foot wide multi-use path, the point of which is hard to see.
Last week the city council agreed to submit a pre-application to determine whether the project is eligible for a grant under the Community Paths program of the Oregon Department of Transportation. If ODOT finds it eligible, the council then would have the option to seek a construction grant.
The proposed multi-use path would go over the bridge and then extend a short distance north on Spring Hill Drive to Hickory Street. It was suggested in a consultant’s study of Highway 20 traffic through downtown.
The construction cost has been estimated at $3,250,000. If ODOT grants construction money, the city would be obligated to provide matching funds of $333,775.
For people on foot, this project has no benefit at all. The existing sidewalk is perfectly fine.
For people riding bikes, the benefit is doubtful. Northbound cyclists can use the existing bike lane, which is wide enough even though often there’s quite a bit of road debris. If they’re worried about motor traffic, cyclists can use the protected sidewalk, which is wide enough to pass pedestrians.
The idea behind the multi-use path seems to be that southbound cyclists could use it instead of the narrow Ellsworth Street Bridge. But this would require crossing four lanes of Highway 20 on the north side of the river and then having to cross them again on the south side. That’s neither convenient nor safe.
Sometimes I wonder whether the consultants that come up with plans for bike routes have ever themselves ridden a bike in city traffic. If they had, they’d come up with ideas that work better and cost less. (hh)
On the Lyon Street Bridge, a guardrail separates the bike lane from the raised sidewalk.
More wasteful use of our tax dollars on another project that has NO redeeming value for us taxpayers. Does anyone still wonder why we can’t afford to get our streets fixed??? Seems like there’s plenty of money to waste on these worthless projects.
VOTE THEM OUT!
“ If they had, they’d come up with ideas that work better and cost less. (hh)”
It’s not their money so they don’t really care. They just need to come up with ideas to justify the fee they earned from the city.
WOW !!!!! $369,720 for the South Water Front path, $333,775 to widen the Lyon Street Bridge, that’s $703,499!!!!!
Why not spend that where it is needed – PUT TO USE TO FIX THE STREETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Enough of this we can’t do this or can’t do that. If you have that kind of money laying around put it to use where needed.
If just one life is saved as a result of following through with this plan, it will be worth more than twice, three times, ten times the estimated cost. It’s only money.
Just kidding. The absurdity of government planners should have stopped astonishing me long ago, but it hasn’t.
Do you know why ODOTis redoing the corner sidewalks.coming off 14th to turn on shortridge is a real test of driving skills.
This is becoming fricking ridiculous!
We’re talking about nearly 8 million to create “pathways” that would benefit few, and talks of creating taxes to our community to repair roads the whole city uses on the daily???
Where is the common sense in our city government??? Something’s gotta give!
I am dumbfounded!
There are real issues with Albany’s transportation … combining the walking and bike paths on this bridge is not one of them. If I served on the City Council, I would want a prioritized list from staff saying what they thought the top 10 projects should be. If this project made the list, I would want to inquire about the staff’s competence. If it didn’t make the list, I would want the staff to explain why they are wasting time on unimportant silliness when real problems exist.
another incredible waste of money. putting the money towards fixing albanys streets involves common sense, so that aint gonna happen.
Just pay for it all with the monies that will be acquired from the Red Light cameras on North Albany Road. Consider how much money is projected to be made, this would be the perfect use.
This is more evidence we have too many staff employees. Cycle: hire staff to look for grants to partially fund no-such-thing-as-free projects. then do it again. Councilor Novak’s appeal to stop spending by cutting staff is rebuked by City Manager who falsely claims all staff is SOOO busy can’t spare one cut. The City MGR should vet staff recommendation and stop this dumb cycle. Time for new CM.
The real safety issue is the debris in the bike lane that forces bicyclists toward the edge of the vehicle lane. Instead of construction, sweep the bike lane regularly at a much lower cost.
Enough of this nonsense! Incompetence and too many city employees appear to be major problems in Albany! Time to clean out City Hall!
I am suprised they don’t require light rail to be on it.
sweep? that involves common sense, and saving money. so that aint gonna happen.