Albany

Cycling advocates have drafted a plan that would link the end of the Albany County Rail Trail on South Pearl Street to downtown Albany via a 1.5-mile protected bike lane.

A coalition of seven groups supporting the idea will detail the proposal at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the main branch of the Albany Public Library.

The plan envisions a protected lane for cyclists north along South Pearl Street before turning right onto the I-787 access ramp opposite Mount Hope Drive, said Lorenz Worden, Albany Bicycle Coalition president.

From there, the protected lane — meaning a physical barrier between riders and passing cars — would occupy one of the two access lanes before turning right on Church Street, crossing the rail tracks and make a quick left on Broadway, Worden said.

The lane would then continue north along Broadway where it would link to another bike lane project the city is planning for Quay Street, then on to downtown or the Mohawk Hudson Bike Trail and Erie Canal Trailway beyond that.

Worden said the plan is an outgrowth of the pending completion of the rail trail this fall. It will stretch from the village of Voorheesville along nine miles of old Delaware & Hudson track to the Port of Albany near Old South Pearl Street.

But once cyclists arrive in Albany, Worden said, there's no easy way for them to continue toward downtown other than riding on busy South Pearl Street.

"You're going to get off your bicycle down on South Pearl Street in this little parking lot, and you're going to say, 'What am I going to do now?'" Worden said. "What we're trying to do is attract people into coming into the city. ... It would theoretically be from Voorheesville to Buffalo."

Worden said the advocates — which include the bicycle coalition, Albany Crew, Friends of the Rail Trail, the Livingston Avenue Rail Bridge Coalition, Parks and Trails New York, Reclaim our Waterfront and the South End Improvement Corp. — have not yet submitted their plan to the city.

Wednesday's meeting is meant to explain the plan and drum up support, he said.

The effort comes as advocates continue to push for pedestrian and bicycle access to the replacement for the nearly 115-year-old Livingston Avenue Rail Bridge, which links the area of Albany's waterfront Corning Preserve to the city of Rensselaer.

It also comes as the city is awaiting designs for a significant change in the traffic pattern on Madison Avenue between South Allen Street and Delaware Avenue. That plan would reduce the existing four lanes of traffic to three, including a center turning lane, and add dedicated bicycle lanes. It's not yet clear whether those bicycle lanes also will be protected.

Worden said advocates were mindful of costs in drafting plans for the South End link.

"We've tried to come up with something that ensures that it will be safe but uses largely the existing roadways," he said.

Dennis Gaffney, a spokesman for Mayor Kathy Sheehan, said the city is exploring the possibility of a link and has applied for a grant from the Capital District Transportation Committee to fund a feasibility study of the best connection route.

The city expects to hear back on that grant application this spring, Gaffney said.

Until then, city Planning Director Christopher Spencer said in a statement, "We cannot commit to any one particular route, or any one particular delivery method.

"The study," Spencer said, "will also investigate the costs of various routes. We go into it with an open mind. To presuppose the outcome would negate the credibility of a feasibility study and assume there is only one viable alternative."

jcarleo-evangelist@timesunion.com • 518-454-5445 • @JCEvangelist_TU