Albany’s South End has new options for exercise as part of a larger bike trail expansion.
Mayor Kathy Sheehan, elected officials and community partners announced Saturday that the second phase of the $1.7 million South End Connector will officially open.
The project includes two-way bike paths, a food truck area, and a pop-up event space. Beneath I-787 between Church Street and the intersection of Broadway and Key Streets, there are areas to stretch, sit, lift weights, and play basketball.
Sheehan said the purpose of the connector is to enhance community well-being, promote local business and foster Albany’s pride and potential.
“It’s a space inspired by this neighborhood. As you all know, basketball is big in Albany, so we have a basketball facility. It’s along a protected bike lane that takes people from the Rail Trail to the Empire Trail. There’s a biking trail. And just below that, we have a new training facility, an outdoor training facility, where people can get active and think about staying active and staying healthy,” said District 109. said Sheehan, tipping his hat to the congressman. Pat Fahey, a Democrat who helped secure funding for the project. Fahy, a state Senate candidate, said the effort is in line with ultimately “retiring parts of the 787.”
A day earlier, several draft renderings of how the corridor could be reconfigured were released after years of discussion and public input.
“And we will restore Albany to its greatest natural resource by fully reconnecting it with its greatest natural resource, the mighty Hudson River. We are so close and yet so far away,” Fahey said. Said.
Sheehan said Albany’s next 100 years will start by thinking about what the city can do now.
“We can’t give up these spaces. This is the space we have in this neighborhood right now. So how do we make this a space that this neighborhood can use and be proud of? How do we celebrate the fact that we’ve built this great bike infrastructure in our state, and we continue to build more of that bike infrastructure, and we’re not dragging our neighbors into the future that we’re trying to bring them, not just us? Not just the city, but the entire region,” Sheehan said.
Southend Neighborhood Council president Joanne Morton praised the free learn-to-ride event for children that preceded the rally.
Southend Neighborhood Council President Joanne Morton addresses those gathered at the Southend Connector.
“When I think back to when we started the conversation about the South End Connector, people in the community didn’t necessarily think the bike path was for us. But this whole idea about the park But when you bring these little guys and they ride their bikes and they put on their training wheels and you have two people riding their bikes by, I don’t think that’s necessarily safe for them. I was a novice rider. But then, as we spoke, research was done and discussions were held with the planning department, and I kept looking back at all of this, and not just the bike lanes. , and lanes for sales trucks. We talked about things that we were concerned about, and we’re happy that those things came to fruition,” Morton said.
Ms Sheehan says there’s one more thing on the list: public toilet facilities nearby. She said a pilot program is underway at Black Lives Matter Park and, if successful, could be replicated at Connector sites.
