The Albany County Rail Trail: A New Use of Albany’s Railroad Past

TheDailyStar, link to original post

On Thursday, Assemblyman Pete Lopez, R-Schoharie, joined Schoharie Mayor John Borst and other project supporters to mark the official trail breaking for the Schoharie Gateway Rail To Trails Project.

The trail project will build a pedestrian/biking trail along a part of the abandoned route of the Middleburgh/Schoharie railroad in the area known as the Schoharie Gateway.

In a media release, Lopez called the project “an amazing grass-roots effort.”

The project began with a grant awarded on Dec. 30, 2004. It will include a 1.5-mile pedestrian and biking trail running along the Schoharie Creek. A community garden is planned for land adjacent to the Schoharie Business Park. Lighting and sidewalk improvements to downtown Schoharie were completed last year. Both the trail, and the sidewalk and lighting project, were based on the Schoharie Comprehensive Plan.

Organizers said work is expected to continue during the winter as weather permits, and will pick up during the spring of 2010.

Ashe Reardon, WRGB, link to original post

Albany is gearing up to expand bicycle routes throughout the city. Close to 100 people turned out Oct 27, 2009 for a meeting to discuss the City of Albany Bicycle Master Plan.

The plan calls for work over the next year to improve Albany’s bicycle access. Infrastructure work will get started later this fall. City officials say the total investment will be around $250,000. The project, which will be phased in over time,will include new bike paths, bike signs and shared lanes for bicycles and cars.

Albany officials have identified three main bicycle routes. They include two major routes and a neighborhood link. The routes are Clinton Ave., part of Washington Ave. and Manning. Blvd. From Manning it will go to Hackett where it will connect to the existing Hackett trail. From there it will go to Holland Ave. to Deleware Ave.

City officials say the new paths will provide bicycle connections on east and west streets, as well as north and south streets. New pathways will be built throughout Albany, including Arbor Hill, Deleware Ave. and the New Scotland Ave. area.

Donation Paves Way for “Guided School Program” Facility

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Pete Grannis today announced that the agency is partnering with the non-profit group Friends of Five Rivers to construct a new education building at the Five Rivers Environmental Education Center in Delmar (Albany County).

Friends of Five Rivers, a citizens’ group that supports education initiatives at the center, facilitated a $500,000 donation to build a new “Guided School Program” building for students. Since 1980, Friends of Five Rivers has coordinated the administration of the program, which provides on-site, outdoor lessons to classes throughout the school year. The program had been based in an aging building called the Goose Lodge since the mid 1980s. Several years ago, Friends of Five Rivers approached DEC about underwriting construction of a new facility.

The donation was given by the Repass family of Marion, Mass., through Friends of Five Rivers. Their daughter, Wendy Repass Suozzo, was a longtime educator at Five Rivers and ran the Guided School Program for many years.

“This is a momentous day for Five Rivers, which has been a popular destination for students, local residents and visitors for decades,” Commissioner Grannis said at a groundbreaking ceremony at the center. “We are grateful to the Repass family for their donation that will make the Guided School Program building possible. And we are proud to point out that our long-standing partnership with Friends of Five Rivers has helped countless children and families build memories of this special place. This is an example of a public-private partnership at its best and we look forward to continuing to work together to connect New Yorkers to nature.”

“Thirty years ago, my daughter, Wendy, helped initiate the Guided School Program to introduce students to the wonders of the great outdoors. With this donation, our family is very pleased to be able to enhance this vital program in Wendy’s memory,” said Herb Repass, who was joined by his wife, Peggy, at the ceremony.

RoseAnne Fogarty, president of the Friends of Five Rivers, highlighted the volunteer instructors who would be the primary users of the new building. “The Guided School Program is one of the best examples of the partnership between DEC and the Friends,” Fogarty said. “Since 1978, the DEC staff naturalists have trained volunteers in environmental studies, and the volunteers have contributed their passion for nature and for sharing it with schoolchildren. The new building recognizes a successful partnership of more than 30 years, and I know that partnership will continue and grow.”

Located just outside Albany, Five Rivers began as a state-run game farm but was converted into an environmental education center in 1970. Its 400-plus acres includes 12 miles of trails and interior roads, 16 ponds and wetlands, and expanses of forest, field and brush habitats.

DEC worked with the state Office of General Services to develop a Five Rivers master plan in 2007, which recommended building a new home for the school program. OGS determined the old building had outlived its useful life and was too costly to maintain. DEC staff will construct the new facility.

The new building will serve as a classroom for student orientation before venturing outside, or for use during inclement weather. It will also provide space for volunteer instructors to prepare lessons and to store teaching materials. And it will afford an opportunity to showcase “green” architecture and landscape design to upwards of 100,000 visitors annually.