Don’t be surprised if you see some new signs sprouting throughout Niskayuna.
The Niskayuna Safe Routes Committee is active again after experiencing a lull of activity for more than a year. Established in 2005, the committee is now looking at expanding bicycle and walking routes in the town. Brown and yellow signs reading “Canalway Trail” are beginning to appear on street corners to point people in the safest direction to reach the path. The state supplied the signs at no cost to the town and now residents are looking how to expand the bike path system outside of the Canalway Trail.
“They wanted to get that group back together,” said Councilwoman Denise Murphy McGraw. “Really, what Safe Routes is are people who are committed to forms of transportation besides automobiles.”
Currently the committee is working on a customized Google map showing the pathways throughout the town, McGraw said, so people would be able to view it anytime at home or even on a smartphone. She said there are also members interested in producing a hard copy of the map for the less Internet-savvy.
After initial efforts with the canalway routes are established, said Frank Gavin, superintendent for the town Highway Department, the committee will begin to look at how to connect areas within the town.
“Their first project is to identify the safest roads to travel to gain access to the canalway path along the river, which will allow access to quite a few of our parks,” Gavin said. “The next step may be one route around town that would connect all the schools and we are looking at different signage for that.”
Once the signs are posted throughout “Old Niskayuna,” area west of Balltown Road and north of Union Street, Safe Routes is going to look at connecting almost everything North of Route 7 and East of Balltown Road, Gavin said.
Recently the county installed sidewalks on a portion of Rosendale Road, which it received a grant to construct. Since the sidewalks were installed, McGraw said residents have utilized it often and appreciate the pathway.
“I don’t go two days without somebody saying some positive comment to me,” said McGraw. “It has just made all the difference in the world to the neighborhoods.”
Feedback she’s received has also lead into looking at the possibility of extending the sidewalk further.
“You couldn’t walk along that road (before),” said McGraw. “Now what I get is can we extend it … people want to extend it right down Rosendale Road, because they love the idea of kids being able to walk all the way to [Iroquois Middle School].”
Landry said there are also many workers at General Electric and Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory walking down the bike path during their lunch breaks. Some workers are even biking to work during the hotter months, said McGraw, but even during the colder months the trail sees activity.
“Frank even in the winter time plows out a section of that so people can walk on it,” said Landry.
In Niskayuna, it isn’t surprising residents would be interesting in developing and promoting alternative transportation routes.
“Niskayuna historically has had over the last 20 years a very good parks system … and people really take advantage of our recreational system. If you go down between Lions Park and Blatnick Park on the bike path at any period of time there is quite a few people using it,” said Supervisor Joe Landry. “We have a lot of people that are very active and are looking for other alternatives.”
Besides biking being a healthier from of transportation, McGraw said it makes sense from a financial standpoint.
“In this economy, at $4 a gallon for gas, it makes sense for a lot of reasons,” said McGraw.