New York state officials are asking Capital Region residents for feedback on plans to redevelop an elevated section of Interstate 787 in Albany.
The state Department of Transportation has released draft plans to redesign the roadway, which has run along the western shore of the Hudson River since the 1960s.
An elevated portion of the highway is crisscrossed by looping overpasses that carry thousands of motorists in and out of New York's capital city.
Speaking in Albany Wednesday, DOT Commissioner Marie Therese Dominguez says the overhaul is needed to improve public access and replace aging structures.
“We're building back smarter, to create infrastructure that keeps people and goods on the move and also reconnects and strengthens our local communities. This also means addressing the missteps from the prior century,” Dominguez said.
A legacy of urban renewal, 787 separates Albany and Watervliet from the riverfront.
Dominguez points to one project in Albany that created a new public space on a former downtown exit ramp.
“Two years ago, we took a big step with the opening of the Albany Skyway, which transformed an underutilized exit ramp from northbound Interstate 787 into an elevated park that linked downtown Albany with the Hudson River waterfront, and it provided easy access to the Corning Riverfront Park and the Empire State Trail,” Dominguez said.
The Albany Skyway is located at the west end of the Livingston Avenue Bridge, a span over the Hudson that officials are also hoping to replace.
DOT's new draft Planning and Environmental Linkage study on 787 builds on ideas in a report from the Capital Region Transportation Council, which released its I-787 Hudson Waterfront Corridor Study in 2018.
DOT is presenting five different concepts for the highway in a series of public input sessions. The current list was whittled down from seven potential options, as well as a no-build alternative.
Total costs are projected to range from about $3 to $6 billion.
State Assemblywoman Pat Fahy’s 109th District includes much of the Albany County highway. The Democrat, a longtime proponent of redeveloping the road who is running for state Senate, says it will revitalize Capital Region communities.
“These were, in many ways, mistakes from a half century ago, well intended, but mistakes when the car was king. The car may still be king, but it doesn't have to cut Albany off from its greatest natural resource,” Fahy said.
Fahy says Albany’s livelihood depends on the river. She says the city can learn from other waterfront communities.
“We know from Canalside in Buffalo. We know from San Antonio, the canal there. We know when we reconnect communities with water, it has extraordinary development opportunities, and it brings people back down. It fuels the revitalization,” Fahy said.
Fellow state Assemblymember John McDonald says an improved highway in Albany would have impacts in surrounding cities, too.
“I also represent the city of Rensselaer, and in conversations with Mayor Stammel and his team, they are excited about the opportunities to continue their economic development going along those lines, and also to maybe, just maybe, address that long standing issue of a more direct shot, or direct approach into the Amtrak rail station,” McDonald said.
The public is invited to weigh in on October 29th at the First Church in Albany, October 30th at the Albany Housing Authority, and November 6th at the Albany Public Library Howe Branch.
Dominguez says feedback on the concepts will be taken into consideration before a decision is made.
“We'll take all of the comments back, incorporate them into the larger study, and we hope sometime in the next few months here, we'll publish a final environmental linkage study, and then from there, what we'll do is consider, ‘OK, what are those next steps?’” Dominguez said.
