From just about here to the Highway 20 signals in the distance, Goldfish Farm Road will be widened and get bike lanes and sidewalks on both sides of the road.
On a bike ride Friday, I took another look at Goldfish Farm Road, where a contractor for Linn County this week started replacing the bridge over Cox Creek.
A story about the bridge replacement on April 5 made a reader ask whether this project would also increase the safety of people who walk or ride their bikes on this two-lane road. At present, there’s no space for them outside the travel lanes.
I asked County Engineer Daineal Malone about that, and she pointed me to another item on the road department’s list of capital projects: “Goldfish Farm Road Improvement.”
This calls for big changes along a 1,370-foot section of Goldfish Farm, starting 130 feet north of Highway 20 and ending 285 feet south of the bridge:
“The existing narrow paved road will be widened to 60 feet for the first 745 feet to to include two 12 ft wide travel lanes, 12 ft wide center lane, two 5 ft bike lanes, curb, gutter, landscape strip/shallow roadside swale, and six foot wide sidewalks on both sides of the road. The remaining 625 feet will taper to 48 feet with removal of the center lane. Separated sidewalks will be installed to accommodate curbside vegetative landscape strips and shallow roadside swales for stormwater collection and treatment.”
This sounds like a swell new street with plenty of room for pedestrians and people on bikes.
What’s not clear, since it’s a separate project, is whether all this will be done as part of the bridge replacement this summer. I haven’t been able to get an answer on that point. When I do, I’ll amend this report.
In the meantime, readers who haven’t been around here forever might wonder about the name of that road on Albany’s east side.
The name question came up 20 years ago in a letter to the editor in the Albany Democrat-Herald. Reporter Jennifer Rouse answered it in a story that appeared on Aug. 30, 2005.
Yes, indeed, goldfish were involved. The road was named for “Bartcher’s Gold Fish Farm and Aquatic Gardens,” which Ben Bartcher started in the 1930s and ran until he died in 1949. The operation was on the east side of the road, the second place on the right going north from Highway 20.
Jennifer wrote that in 2005 the former Bartcher home was still there, “a small white house close to the road.” If it was still there on Friday, I could not see anything that fit the desription.
But the goldfish were long gone, and the bridge was definitely closed. (hh)
The bridge over Cox Creek was not yet completely “out” but getting there, and definitely closed.
Thanks Hasso. I have often wondered how the name came about.
Sounds like a big new development is planned. That’s been my experience living here for many, many years.