Council talks transportation
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Transportation was the topic most discussed Tuesday night as the City Council approved a checklist for the Complete Streets Committee, heard about a grant the city was awarded to review the city’s streets and watched a presentation on a trail system that promises to tie the whole city together.
The City Council heard from people involved with the design of the Saratoga Greenbelt Trail, a 22-mile network that envisions linking the city’s current Spring Run, Railroad Run and Bog Meadow trails, as well as those in the Saratoga Spa State Park and the proposed Geyser Road Trail.
“There is a local demand, but we also find these tend to be very popular statewide,” said Sam Piper, a graduate student in the University of Albany’s master’s program for urban and regional planning.
He and fellow graduate students Celeste Roeller and Dan Caroll worked with Jeff Olson, a principal planner at Alta Planning Design, as well as a handful of local organizations including Saratoga P.L.A.N. and Saratoga Regional YMCA, to make the city a hub for regional trails.
The students cited opportunities to improve the community’s health and quality of life, as well as an economic boost in tourism that the extensive trail network could provide.
More information on the community-based project is available at www.saratogagreenbelt.webly.com
The council also discussed tangible steps the city is taking to improve walk-ability on its streets. It first approved the Complete Streets Checklist that will be utilized in any street- improvement projects and will give planners a clear set of criteria to review to determine whether it accommodates other modes of transportation than vehicular.
“It gives some format to the Complete Streets program to make sure nothing is overlooked in the review of a project,” Mayor Scott Johnson said.
The checklist asks things like whether bicycle accommodations are being considered, whether there are sidewalks on both sides of the street or if there are proposed connections to
other bike paths, pedestrian facilities or other transportation hubs.
There is no requirement that accommodations be made, only that they are considered.
Johnson also announced that the city has received a grant that will help to put concrete pedestrian and bicycle improvements into effect on the city’s streets.
The city applied for a $ 45,000 grant in January that will pay for an outside consultant to integrate the city’s transportation plan. It will give a street- bystreet analysis of what can be done to improve the city’s current network, as well as how it can incorpo- rate plans like the Greenbelt Trail.
The city will need to contribute another $15,000 to receive the grant, money that will come out of its recreation account.
Finally, Johnson also announced that the city will be sending out its requests for proposals for design work to be completed on the Geyser Road Trail that will run from the Milton town line to the intersection of Geyser Road and Route 50.
The project has been planned for years and the final $150,000 in engineering work will make it “shovel ready,” according to Johnson. The RFPs are due back later this month.