One of the rougher potholes on Madison Street, photographed in November 2021.
If you often use Madison Street in Albany, this may interest you. A planned bicycle safety project there will also result in a new surface and a smoother street.
From Pacific Boulevard north to Second Avenue, Madison is notoriously rough, with broken pavement, lots of patches and potholes.
Now, Albany Public Works has invited bids for what it calls “Madison Street safety improvements.” This project, partially funded by a state grant from ODOT, calls for construction of two asphalt speed bumps, green bike lane markings at the intersections of Fourth and Fifth avenues, and shared-lane markings along about 1,600 feet.
Construction drawings say that the Linn County Road Department will apply a chip-seal coat to Madison as part of the project. I wondered how this would fix the uneven pavement and how long the new paint would last on the “chips” or gravel.
The answer came from Chris Cerklewski, the engineer in Public Works who designed and is managing the project:
“Prior to the chip seal, operations crews will patch potholes and apply an asphalt skin patch to the worst areas to improve the smoothness of the street. The chip seal itself will use a smaller sand size to make the surface smoother than what is seen on many rural chip sealed roads. Also, the chip seal will be finished with an asphalt fog seal, which will make the surface black to provide contrast for the new painted pavement markings. The painted markings will be assessed every year and repainted if needed to maintain visibility.”
The whole thing is a bike safety project because of a handful of bike-car collisions at Fourth and Fifth over several years. Bike riders on Madison had the right of way, but drivers didn’t see them and started into the street after stopping. The green markings and new signs are supposed to prevent that.
The engineer’s cost estimate for the contract is $75,000. Bids are due on May 24.
I don’t often find myself on Madison Street. But after this project is done, I’ll make a point of going there as often as I can. (hh)
Waaay overdue, especially at the North end.
Is there social inequity in where, and when, the city prioritizes its road repairs?
Is downtown (nobility) treated any differently than Monteith (gentry)? Is Hackleman (working class) treated any differently than the other two?
What about the rest of Albany (non-CARA areas)?
Asking for a friend…
BS Gordon, again.
It’s ALL done in public before the Council and as part of the budget and the Capital Improvement Project adoption sessions. Everyone is welcome to participate, but few do. You know that.
Have your “friend” start here:
https://www.cityofalbany.net/streets
Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to cater to a few handfuls (if that many) of cyclists while ignoring thousands of motorists and all the other streets in disrepair, but then again, this is Albany. Apparently, nobody in our local government has much sense.
It’ll be nice to get the potholes fixed, but I see the Green Paint as a constant reminder/irritant to drivers who feel their money is wasted. Reality TRUMPS what non bicycle riding “traffic engineers” usually come up with.
So if they switched to purple paint would drivers be less irritated?
And their money is “wasted” because of paint and it’s color?
Maybe drivers aren’t as “irritated” as you are. Why don’t you tell the city the color you want. I mean, paint is pretty damn cheap compared to the cost of asphalt and rebuilding streets at a couple of million dollars per mile.
Any color is stupid.
What makes you think I’m an irritated driver? I don’t own a car, but do ride that section of street on my bicycle.