Schenectady, N.Y., September 3, 2009 – Schenectady County’s Metroplex Development Authority today announced that it has installed bike racks at five downtown parking lots.
Gary Hughes from the Schenectady County Legislature said, “As we continue to create more people-generators in our newly-vibrant downtown, encouraging the use of bicycles makes great sense. It’s also an economical, healthy and green way to get to around.”
Ray Gillen, Metroplex Chair and Commissioner of Economic Development and Planning for Schenectady County said, “As more people work downtown or visit downtown for its many shops and entertainment options, we wanted to make it easy for residents and visitors to commute by bicycle. Metroplex has added bike racks at five parking lots. The racks are located right next to the booths at each lot that are staffed by parking attendants.”
There is no charge for bike parking. Metroplex offers monthly paid parking permits to downtown workers and free two-hour parking to shoppers and visitors to downtown. Parking for Bow Tie Cinema and Proctors is free all the time and there is no charge for parking after 5 p.m.
The new bike racks are located at:
• Clinton South Lot behind Proctors
• Clinton North Lot near Jay Street Marketplace
• Center City Lot
• Broadway North Lot near Pinhead Susan’s
• State/Erie Lot next to the Amtrak station
The City of Schenectady provided the bike racks to Metroplex at no cost. Each rack will easily accommodate more than a dozen bicycles.
Schenectady County is currently working on a number of bike trail projects that will connect the County and improve bicycle access. The New York State Canal Corporation is building over four miles of bike trails that will link Rotterdam to Niskayuna via the City of Schenectady. The new trail will connect from SCCC’s parking lot to Union Street to North Jay Street and past the new Golub headquarters before connecting with the existing trail in Niskayuna at Balltown and River Roads. As part of this project, new signage will be installed along the on-street trail segment from the corner of Washington Avenue and State Street to North Jay Street and handicapped accessible sidewalk ramp will also be installed. Work on this $1.6M trail reconstruction project is scheduled to begin this fall.
In addition, the County is in the final design phase and will build a new bike trail linking Upper Union Street, Central Park, Vale Park and downtown in 2010.
For more information about downtown parking, visit www.parkschenectady.com.