Troy begins Green Island Bridge study
Roundabout project design must also be pedestrian friendly
A year after imagining its first roundabout at the Green Island Bridge, the city is starting to study ways to get it built and make it safer for pedestrians to cross Federal Street, which was designed as a four-lane wide road to speed traffic through downtown.
The bonus will be beautifying the entrance to the middle of the city that 13,000 vehicles drive through every day.
“We’re creating a new gateway into the city,” Steven Strichman, the city’s commissioner of planning and economic development, said Monday.
The Capital District Transportation Committee recently gave the city a $67,500 grant to plan for revamping Federal Street between the Green Island Bridge on the west along the Hudson River east to Sixth Avenue.
Strichman said the resulting plans would be used next year to pursue additional funding to build the roundabout at the foot of the Green Island Bridge and making Federal Street easier for pedestrians to cross. The only places pedestrians can cross Federal Street are at the intersections at the Green Island Bridge with Federal and River streets on the west and Sixth Avenue and Federal Street on the west.
The planning for the new entrance to the city at the bridge and the reworking of Federal Street comes as the city begins a project using a $400,000 grant to build access for pedestrians across the Green Island Bridge between the city trail system and the Empire State Trail along the Hudson River’s western shore.
“Study of the possible reconfiguration of Federal Street is an opportunity to correct a car-centric design mistake of the 1970s when the rebuilding of the Green Island Bridge and Federal Street approach created a void in our urban fabric,” Mayor Patrick Madden said.
The city is dealing with two parallel four-lane wide roadways — the Federal Street corridor on the south and to the north Hoosick Street from River Street to 10th Street — that make it difficult to safely cross the streets. The two roadways essentially cut off the developing Hedley District from the rest of the city.
The Federal Street study is addressing the southern end of the area while efforts are shaping up to transform the section of Hoosick Street beneath the Collar City Bridge into a public gathering spot and linking the nearby neighborhoods.
Strichman said the outcome of the Federal Street project would be to slow traffic while making the corridor pedestrian friendly in keeping with Troy’s reputation as a walkable city.