Gondola project taking f light
City of Rensselaer will oversee environmental review; Impact on traffic, parking also to be studied
The $25 million Capital Gondola project will start moving into an environmental review when the city Planning Commission approves an agreement with Albany next Tuesday to take charge of the project over the Hudson River.
Capital Gondola will have to perform archaeological studies at the location of each
of the 11 towers that will support cables carrying the gondolas along the mile-long route. The towers would range in height from 40 feet to 133 feet, according to plans submitted to Rensselaer, which will be the lead agency for the environmental review.
The project ’s visual impact will be analyzed and the company must explain “procedures for dealing with stopped gondola cars, emergencies involving passengers, etc.,” according to documents filed with Rensselaer.
Passing those tests and reviews are needed before the gondolas can cross the river from Rensselaer’s Amtrak train station to downtown Albany near the Times Union Center. The company and its engineers will set the pace for the formal state environmental quality review needed to win a special use permit needed for the operation.
The Albany-based company touts gondolas as a potentially reliable option to get people from the train station, the nation’s ninth busiest, into the capital city. The project was first proposed in 2016 and word of the environmental review is the first outward sign of progress in months.
Charles Moore, Rensselaer planning and development director, said there are concerns about safety if the gondolas were to stop working and ended up suspended high above the river or elsewhere on the route. He cited the breakdown of the Disney World Skyliner gondola that recently opened. Moore said company officials have assured the city there are redundant systems, but safety concerns will have to be addressed.
The gondola system’s impact on parking and traffic will also be studied. It has been estimated that the gondolas would transport about 900,000 passengers a year. The system would be anchored by two 5,000-square-foot stations on each end.
Moore said the city has not learned anything more about the funding for the gondola. In the original application, representatives of Capital Gondola told the planning commission they have secured up to 80 percent of the funding for the project from private sources. They further indicated they are applying for grants to cover the remaining construction costs.
The firm had estimated the first gondola would go into ser vice in 2020, but the project is only just beginning what is ty pically a months-long environmental review.
The company also has to negotiate acquiring air rights and easements for the gondolas and the towers involving 20 properties. Eleven of the property parcels affected by the gondola project are in Rensselaer; the other nine parcels are in Albany. The project needs a special-use permit.
The Planning Commission meets at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall.