This new but unfinished rail crossing just east of the Lyon Street Bridge is to be completed by this fall.
If you’re wondering how long the western end of Albany’s Water Avenue is going to be closed for construction, keep reading because the answer is coming up.
Four blocks of the street are being rebuilt and gussied up as the last part of the $21.5 million Waterfront Project of the Central Albany Revitalization Area, the city’s urban renewal district.
The contractor, K&E Excavating, has been working on the two blocks between Washington and Broadalbin streets, while the two blocks between Broadalbin and the Lyon Street Bridge remain open to traffic. I wondered whether those latter two blocks were still going to get done.
“Yes, that is the plan,” City Engineer Staci Belcastro told me in an email. “K&E is focused on completing improvements between Washington and Broadalbin ahead of the River Rhythms concert series. They will start work between Broadalbin and Lyon Street on or before July 1. All work, including construction of the rail crossing, Lyon Street parking improvements, and landscaping should be completed early fall.”
The unfinished crossing — across the Water Avenue rail line to the Dave Clark Riverfront Path — is just east of the Lyon Street Bridge. It is supposed to replace other crossings in the vicinity that were eliminated last year in another phase of the Waterfront Project.
As for Water Avenue, the western four blocks are being turned into a “plaza street” that can be closed to traffic for special events or markets.
Also on the waterfront, City Manager Peter Troedsson said in his Friday report to the city council that the children’s splash pad in Monteith Riverpark will open on Memorial Day.
Judging by what I saw last year on my frequent bike rides along the riverfront, the splash pad was a sensation among children. No reason to think that this summer it won’t be a popular attraction again. (hh)
Looking west along Water Avenue from Broadalbin Street on Friday evening, April 25, 2925.
This River front project will be great for Albany when finally completed. It is unfortunate that some of the funding wasn’t used to repair the many streets filled with potholes and damaged sidewalks.
If it is part $21.5 million water front project why are we going to be paying additional tax (in the form of a “fee” assessed by the power provider? (Which tells me that the city leaders didn’t want the blame for the extra tax) How many years will we be paying the extra, not voted for, tax? Given past history it will be absorbed later as an increase of the cost of electric power and never go away. This “fee” should have been paid for by the monies appropriated for the entire project. The city just circumvented having to go to the voters by doing this. Just my opinion ion that I hope I am entitled to.
They are basically “extending” CARA through underhanded means. That’s the culture we’ve been voting for. Look at the CITY OWNED lots next to the Cumberland EVENTS CENTER that they will try to give them. They should sell surplus lots to the highest bidder, instead of feathering their own pet projects.
The Cumberland folks promised that they would be raising all the money privately, let’s hope they keep their word.