Tag: Western Avenue

CDTA #10 bus won’t go into Stuyvesant Plaza

Western Avenue and Fuller Road

CDTAI looked at the new Capital District Transportation Authority bus schedule, announced on July 24. The most absurd change is that the CDTA Western Avenue #10 bus won’t go into Stuyvesant Plaza as of August 24.

Stuyvesant Plaza is “home to more than 60 shops and restaurants,” a post office, and other amenities. Currently, coming either from the east (downtown Albany) or the west (Crossgates Mall), the bus would travel Western Avenue, turn onto Fuller Road, turn left into Executive Park, enter Stuyvesant Plaza near the post office, where it would stop, then leave the plaza for downtown or Crossgates.

The new decision is for riders to be left on the corner of Fuller and Western. They will have to cross a not-pedestrian-friendly Fuller Road westbound or a not-pedestrian-friendly Western Ave eastbound, then walk into the plaza.

I see this as an accessibility issue. The cars entering/exiting the mall on the Fuller Road side are not pedestrian-friendly either.

I called CDTA yesterday to ask if this was CDTA’s decision or the Plaza’s, but I haven’t heard back. When I called Stuyvesant, the person I spoke to didn’t know about the change until a couple of days ago. If it were the plaza’s plan, it would be a gross disservice to its merchants. 

One can take the #114 from near my house and get off at Executive Park, which is somewhat better, but it now runs sporadically, and like the #10, its current frequency will be reduced.

Once upon a time

In 2011, the CDTA radically realigned its bus schedule. I attended so many public meetings that people knew me by name. In response to an email of mine, a CDTA rep wrote, “We also enjoyed our chats at the public meetings and appreciate you taking the time to keep up the dialogue.”

Most of the changes were great. For instance, it added lines to the South End of Albany that had been woefully underserved.

However, they made several tentative plans, including moving the Allen Street bus to Main, which didn’t make sense. Because people, including me, complained, they rejiggered the plan.

I also noted that there was a late (8:10) bus coming out of Corporate (frickin’) Woods. The tentative schedule would have stranded the cleaning crews from the various buildings. They looked at the data and kept the late bus, which about two dozen people rode daily.

So I don’t think this is a hopeless situation, at least not yet. Local people: if you have ideas on how to rectify this, please let me know.

Western/Madison/Allen intersection

US Route 20

I live near Albany, NY’s Western/Madison/Allen intersection. It isn’t straightforward to explain it. On the map, the red line is US Route 20. To the west, it’s Western Avenue. Where it makes the bend, it becomes Madison Avenue, but Western Avenue continues if you follow the straight line.

A “Getting There” column in the Times Union from 2015 contained this convoluted-sounding but utterly accurate question. “When coming north off South Allen Street and taking a left onto Western Avenue (you cannot take a left onto Madison Avenue) or going straight onto North Allen, there is most often confusion in the intersection. Cars coming south on North Allen can make a left onto both Madison and Western Avenues.”

Thus, WALK lights are needed to allow pedestrians to cross the streets safely. That is unless a driver is on Madison Avenue and makes an illegal right turn onto North Allen. And by “illegal,” I mean there is both a word and a graphic sign prohibiting it. Still, cars make that turn. Recently, three vehicles in a row did so.

Allen Street is but one lane in each direction. A red light came on when a fire truck was racing south down North Allen, so cars weren’t moving. Nor could they pull over because it’s a neighborhood with a lot of street parking. The truck passed eight vehicles, got through the intersection with sirens blaring, and went on its way.

What was audacious, and one of my neighbors saw it as well, was that the fifth car in line followed the fire vehicle. Since it did NOT have a siren, it almost caused an accident at the intersection.

Yield to the ambulance!

A few weeks later – last week – an ambulance was racing east on Western. It couldn’t travel straight onto Madison because cars stopped at a traffic light. So it had to head back to the common road area, then veer back onto Madison.

Meanwhile, a vehicle is heading west at Madison’s end, which normally would have had the right of way save for the approaching ambulance. Somehow, I waved the car down – the driver possibly thought I was daft – and it stopped. The ambulance veers back onto Madison, as I expected, and the crisis is averted.

It’s a weird intersection. In 2005 (!), I wrote The Streets of Albany Were Designed by Sadists. It’s more an issue of bad surveying, but the effect is the same.

The good thing is that the intersection is a major stop for the CDTA buses: the #10 Western, the #114 (it’ll get me to the train station); the #106 (circumnavigates the city), the #111 (UAlbany), and the new express #910. 

Old cities have quirky aspects. 

Ramblin' with Roger
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