HASSO HERING

“Near future”? Not a chance, but signs don’t have to make sense in order to remain posted.

This sign first caught my attention nine years ago, in July 2014. It didn’t make sense then or when I saw it again in 2016. It was still there on the second of this month, making no more sense than before.

The barrier and its sign are at the end of Adam Street, a curved little street in North Albany that goes about 650 feet from Hickory Street south to the Bonaventure retirement home. A bike ride rook me past there on July 2.

Where the barrier stands, the elevation is 202 feet above sea level. Just on the other side is Blossom Lane, which at that point lies at an elevation of about 195 feet.

So to extend the street would require overcoming a sharp and rather sudden drop. Or the land west of the barrier would have to be raised seven feet.

It could be done, presumably, if a developer wanted to pay for that much fill and then swait for the material to be compacted enough for street or home construction.

City records available online show no development proposals along that country lane. So the extending the street is impossible, at least “in the near future.”

In 2016, I was told the city puts up these signs at the end of streets in order not be blamed later on if and when people are unpleasantly surprised by plans for development near their homes.

If that’s the rationale, the sign is on the wrong side of the barricade, the side where development has already taken place. If anybody needs a warning about the impact of potential development, it’s the owners on the other side, the side that still has its rural look. (hh)

That’s Blossom Lane down there, a sharp drop from the road barrier on the left.