Over the years thousands of people have driven along the off-ramp leading to Clinton Ave in downtown Albany that's in line to become the Albany Skyway elevated park. But walked the almost half-mile curve? That's probably just a handful.

"It was an amazing surprise to be walking on the Skyway," said Capitalize Albany president Sarah Reginelli, one of the few people to trace the route on foot. "Even with none of the amenities in place, it was still this really enchanting walk because you get all of these vistas and vantage points you wouldn't otherwise."

Last week at The Palace, Capitalize Albany -- the city of Albany's economic development arm -- presented the work of the team that's been designing the Albany Skyway.

Here are a handful of renderings, bits about the design plan and cost, along with a few questions and thoughts.

What's in the design

There are handful of design renderings at the top in the large format -- click or scroll all the way up.

A layout for the ramp

Back in May the engineering/design firm hired to work on this project, Stantec, presented a range of options for the general direction of the park's design. And, based on public feedback, Stantec's Gary Sorge said the team ultimately settled on a combination of what it called "schemes" two and four.

Essentially, the plan is to intersperse long stretches of linear green space along the sides with open areas that would allow for booths and pop-up events. And the stretches of green space would curve to allow space so people could step or stand to the side as others walk or bike past. (The width of the ramp is about 25 feet.)

Reclaimed green space on the river side

The proposed design also calls for making more purposeful use of a wedge of green space that sits between the ramp and Quay Street on the river side. Part of this space could be formatted as an informal amphitheater-style area to allow for seating and viewing of the river.

Possibile amenities

Among the possible amenities proposed for the skyway:

+ A covered entryway on the Broadway end. (Independent of this project, the city is also looking at possible new amenities for the Clinton Square area there, which could provide a welcoming link for people making their way to the the skyway from Arbor Hill and Sheridan Hollow.)

+ An outdoor gallery space for art along a narrow portion of the ramp toward the Broadway end.

+ Planters and landscaping -- the amount of greenery will be moderated in part by how much weight can be added to the structure.

+ Speciality lighting to create an eye-catching space where the ramp crosses under 787.

+ An elevator/stair tower at about the halfway point.

+ A pedestrian/bike connection to a possible pedestrian/bike walkway on the next Livingston Ave Bridge.

The cost -- in two parts

It's important to note that many of those possible amenities wouldn't necessarily be part of the initial version of the project. The designers have framed two possible phases or versions of the project as the "sky trail" and "festival bridge." There's more detail from back in May, but in short the "sky trail" version is the Albany Skyway in its most basic form as a walkway/bridge with limited landscaping. The "festival bridge" concept involves amenities and programming that would support events like farmers markets and small festivals.

And, as you might expect, they have different costs

The sky trail

The Cuomo admin has already pledged $3.1 million to this project, and the design team says that's enough to make the sky trail concept work. As one of Stantec's engineers explained at the Palace last week, about $1 million of that will go toward initial maintenance and fixes intended to prepare the ramp for use as a park and set it up to be used for the next 15-20 years.

That figure caught the ear of people in the crowd, including Common Council member Judy Doesschate who questioned the team in a public comment about whether that $1 million in maintenance is work that the state Department of Transportation would have to pay for regardless -- and asked if maybe the state should be on the hook for that work independent of its $3 million pledge.

The team of designers and officials responded that some of this work wouldn't be done -- or wouldn't be done for many years -- unless the ramp is converted to a park.

The festival bridge

Amenities rolled up in the festival bridge concept are estimated to cost $12.3 million. The city doesn't have money gathered for that, but Capitalize Albany's Sarah Reginelli said it's already applied for more than $5 million in grants through programs with the state.

"The way that the team had priced out that amenity package was to allow us to really see it as an a la carte menu of options for the Skyway," Reginelli said after the presentation. "So it didn't need to come all in one big, second piece. You can take pieces of that itemized budget and be able to find dedicated grant sources or corporate sponsorships or private donations to be able to cover individual portions so that if we're successful with the bulk of the state funding the city is requesting currently we'll be able to take care of much of that amenity package. If we're unsuccessful, or if we have a limited amount of success with that, we'll be able to start looking at additional funding sources to really build out the amenity package over time."

Figuring the payoff

To help assess the case for spending this sort of money, Capitalize Albany brought on Kate Collignon of the consultancy HR&A to work up some projections for the potential economic impact of the Skyway -- in both the sky trail and festival bridge versions -- based on the experience of similar projects in other cities. And Collignon ran through a quick overview of her analysis for the crowd at the Palace. These slides provide a rough summary (click for larger versions):

One of the reasons the festival bridge concept is project to have a large impact area is that, as Collignon explained, it makes other connections to riverfront -- such as the Maiden Lane pedestrian bridge -- more valuable as well.

One of the important considerations about the upping the level of amenities and programming on the skyway is that at some point it will probably require dedicated staffing for administration and fundraising and sponsorship sales. And which department/agency/org would do that hasn't been determined. Would that be the city? An existing org? A new Friends of the Skyway-type group?

"A project like this does take investment," said Sarah Reginelli afterward. "And this is a calculated investment on the part of the state and the city to create an amenity that drives returns to the city of Albany in the form of fiscal contributions from increased tax revenue, sales tax revenue, spending in room nights as well as well as economic impact and really raising the value of real estate surrounding the Skyway and allowing that to create an opportunity for new businesses to come in because they want to be located next to something so iconic as well as new residents as well. And that generates that indirect and induced spending in the community as well. So this is such a huge opportunity."

Questions of recurring cost and ownership

One of the numbers not mentioned at the Palace event was the annual cost for the city to maintain what would be a unique piece of infrastructure. (There was a projection that, whatever the cost, the city should expect to cover about a third of it as the rest could be made up from user fees and sponsorships.)

Reginelli said afterward that specific figure was not ready yet, but it would be presented to the city as part of the overall feasibility and design study. (It's worth noting that mayor Kathy Sheehan has supported the project and opened the Palace event with another expression of enthusiasm for it.)

That cost -- or maybe to be more specific, the uncertainty of that cost -- is one of the recurring criticisms/skepticisms of this project. Getting the number out there for everyone to see and understand how it could be covered could go some way to addressing those concerns.

Another important question that's not yet publicly resolved: Who will ultimately own this thing, the city or the state? Reginelli said the city and the state Department of Transportation continue to have discussions about the project -- the state DOT has been supportive of the project -- and figuring out the ultimate ownership arrangement is a key part of those discussions.

Again, settling this issue could go some way to addressing skeptics. That could be especially true if the ultimate arrangement allows the city some flexibility or assistance in handling a piece of infrastructure witch which it doesn't have a lot of experience. Maybe there's a lease arrangement or something similar that's possible.

What's the value of something new and different?

Zooming out a little bit: One of the things we were thinking about while listening to these plans and projections is how we value something like a park.

Sure, there are people who can make economic and visitor projections -- Capitalize Albany hired someone to do just that in in this case. (Though we're curious about how well those sorts of projections ultimately match up with reality.) And that's understandable, if the city/state/whoever is going to be spending a significant amount of money. However great a new amenity might be -- elevated park, swimming pool, unicorn petting zoo -- it has to make some sense within a municipal budget.

But that sort of analysis is mostly about attaching a dollar figure to something that might not necessarily be well measured in that way. What's the value of people in Arbor Hill having a shorter, more enjoyable route to the river? What's the value of providing a place for someone to spend a relaxing 15 minutes during their lunch break? How much is it worth to introduce a ribbon of greenery in a tangle of concrete?

Someone can probably attach dollar amounts to those things. And those amounts might even be accurate to the extent they can be figured. It's just that there's probably going to be a part of making this decision in which the choice isn't so much about return on investment as it is people expressing what sort of place they want their city to be -- and whether the cost is worth it in that regard.

Timeline

If this project stays on its current track, and the city and state can work out all the details by this fall, Capitalize Albany says the Albany Skyway could open in 2020.

Earlier

+ Working out the design of the Albany Skyway

+ Ideas for the Albany Skyway