Waiting at the Queen Avenue railroad crossing is part of life in Albany. It’s an essential element, you might say, of the Hub City Experience.
If ODOT and the railroads ever carry out their plans for the Queen Avenue crossing in Albany, I’ll quit writing about it. But the improvement project at the crossing keeps slipping further back in time.
When a section of Queen Avenue was reopened this week after being torn up for utility work and then repaved, somebody complained in a comment here that the railroad crossing was still as bumpy as always.
On bike rides around Albany I usually avoid Queen Avenue because of the rail crossing south of the Albany yard. On Thursday afternoon I did go that way and witnessed motorists practicing amazing patience while the crossing was blocked for what seemed like a very long time.
On a bike ride this month, I stopped at the Queen Avenue crossing to let a Union Pacific freight go by. Standing there, I wondered about all those tank cars heading south.
Back on March 1, the Albany Parks Commission heard something about an aging railway switch engine that had been at work in the Albany and Millersburg yards for years.
It’s still there: Bike trap at Queen crossing
If you approach the rail crossing on Queen Avenue from the east, beware of the trap they’ve left for people on bikes.
Tags: bike lane, ODOT, Queen Avenue crossing, railroad