SCHENECTADY
Final stretch of Erie Boulevard to be revamped
Route leading to Mohawk Harbor to receive $6M to $7M worth of work
BY JOHN CROPLEY Gazette Business Editor
Above: Motorists drive down Erie Boulevard past Green Street in January. The stretch of road between Union and Nott streets is well-worn — and rough on both vehicle and pedestrian traffic.
Above: The sidewalk below the railroad bridge over Erie Boulevard near Union Street is a dark and narrow passage.
JOHN CROPLEY/GAZETTE BUSINESS EDITOR
Work will begin shortly on one of the last unimproved pieces of the route to Mohawk Harbor — the stretch of Erie Boulevard between Union and Nott streets.
Much of the rest of Erie has been overhauled and in some places upgraded extensively, but this last stretch remains well-worn and not ideally designed for either vehicle or pedestrian traffic.
If all goes according to plan, $6 million to $7 million worth of work will be completed on the roughly 2,000 feet of Erie between Union and Nott between April and October.
City Engineer Christopher Wallin, who has been gathering input on the project at public meetings, explained the details to The Gazette earlier this winter:
› First up is the $2 million replacement of the water lines below the pavement. The pipes are 110 years old, and “we have a history of breaks,” Wallin said.
› The sewer lines will be inspected for problems while the excavations are being done for the water line replacement project. Depending on what is discovered, repairs could cost as much as $1 million.
› The actual surface work between Union and Nott will run about $4 million. The funding is coming from the city ($2.5 million) and federal government ($1.5 million).
“People are really happy about the road finally happening,” Wallin said.
Within the largest portion of the Erie Boulevard project — the above-ground streetscape — there will be a number of big changes from what pedestrians and motorists currently encounter:
› The street will be milled to a depth of 2 inches and repaved.
› Existing streetlights will be replaced with high-efficiency LED lights.
› Greenery will be added where possible along the sidewalks, which are a public right-of-way, and at strategically chosen pieces of adjoining private property, if their owners agree to it.
› The existing pedestrian crosswalk near the roundabout will be moved well west, almost to Monroe Street.
› Longer turn lanes will be added at Union Street, where cars can stack up, and at Green Street.
› A landscaped median will be installed near the roundabout, possibly with a fence to keep pedestrians from trying to cross where there is no designated crosswalk; the median is intended to be attractive and to get motorists to slow down.
› The crumbling retaining wall north of the railroad bridge will be removed and the slope graded back.
› The sidewalks beneath the railroad bridge will be widened from 3 feet to 6 feet and lighted.
This last aspect is a crucial detail for a walkable route between downtown and Mohawk Harbor — the dark, narrow sidewalks that run beneath the bridge can be intimidating to walk at any time of the year, and can be dangerous or impossible to walk in winter, when snow and ice are thrown on them by passing tires and plows.
If the sidewalks are 6 feet wide, the city can run a tractor on them to keep them clear in winter.
This next phase of Erie Boulevard work is not as extensive as the redesign between I-890 and State Street, Wallin said. “Here we don’t have as much room,” he explained.
Overall, it’s an ambitious upgrade, but not a total rebirth.
“This isn’t anything that is revolutionary,” Wallin said.
However, it is much-appreciated by at least one major Erie Boulevard stakeholder.
Dave Buicko, CEO of the Galesi Group, which is developing the over-$450 million Mohawk Harbor project, said he likes the plan.
“We always were hopeful that they were going fi x it,” he said. “It’s one of the main thoroughfares into Mohawk Harbor. And it’s not just the casino.”
Taken together with the roundabout and other street improvements in front of Mohawk Harbor, Buicko said, “Chris Wallin and the city have done a great job orchestrating it.”
Buicko noted that the work on Erie between Nott and Union is one of several projects now underway or recently completed that will benefit Mohawk Harbor, through better vehicle traffic patterns. These include:
› The lower Erie Boulevard redesign;
› The radically reshaped I-890 interchange formerly known as The Circle of Death;
› New roundabouts on Maple Avenue in Glenville and Aqueduct Road in Niskayuna;
› The new Rexford Bridge;
› The new roundabout at Nott and Erie, and an additional traffic lane on Nott;
› The new traffic light where Maxon Road and Mohawk Harbor Way meet at Erie Boulevard.
“It’s pretty cool that it’s all getting done in the same handful of years,” Buicko said. “It benefits everyone in the city.”
One last piece of the streetscape on Erie Boulevard — the northernmost portion, between Maxon Road Extension and Maxon Road, across from Mohawk Harbor — is privately owned. If it is to be remade, it will likely be through market forces.
The stretch is currently home to a mix of commercial operations, some of them lacking in aesthetic appeal. Buicko said he expects the scenery will only get better as the area evolves and economic activity follows the riverside development.
“It’s not bad where it is now,” he said. “If those uses are upgraded it will only enhance the half-billion investment we’ve got in Mohawk Harbor.
“I think it’s going to happen.”