Albany Station, constructed at great public expense, is a hub of transportation activity during some parts of the day. Trains and local and regional bus lines stop there, and there’s plenty of convenient parking for taxis and the vehicles of commuters and other travelers. And yet, incredibly, two of the alternative routes being considered for […]
Guess what, property tax totals in two mid-valley counties are up again this year. This is no surprise. Voters in Albany approved a slight bump in the special levy for public safety. New construction has taken place, and in many cases the assessed value of property went up regardless of what the market did because […]
The city of Albany offered free rides on its public transit systems this week. It reminded me that as far as I could remember, I had not ridden a city bus in Albany in the years I’ve lived here. Time to remedy that omission. So on Wednesday afternoon I got on the No. 3 bus […]
If you’ve been waiting to use the long-planned paddlers’ access on the Luckiamute River, you’re in for a disappointment. It was supposed to be built this year, but it hasn’t happened, even though the signs are in place on Buena Vista Road and the parking lot and restroom have long been finished. The access point to […]
There’s a story behind this passenger rail car, which was parked under the Albany overpass a few days ago. To get it, I went to Bob Melbo, who has had the answer to every railroad-connected question I have ever asked him. The lettering says the car belongs to the California Northern, a subsidiary of RailAmerica. […]
As you might expect, the unexplained presence of a long line of brand new refrigerated railroad cars on a siding southeast of Albany has prompted rumors and a few jokes on the Internet, that fertile field for fueling phony theories of plots. I reported on sighting these cars on Sept. 19 after riding along Midway […]
Downtown speed: Who cares?
Of all the things to worry about, the speed limit on Highway 20 through downtown Albany is at the very bottom of the list. Especially if the choice is between very slow at 25 mph or even slower at 20. But as ODOT explains it, when they talked with the city about “decommissioning” a crosswalk […]
Tags: Albany downtown couplet, ODOT, speed limits