July 07, 2016
State Awards Funding Through Competitive Department of Transportation Grant
ALBANY, NY (July 7, 2016) The Capital District Transportation Authority (CDTA) has been awarded funding through a competitive New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) grant that will help complete CDTA’s Washington and Lark Safety Improvement project.
“We want to thank Governor Cuomo and NYS DOT Commissioner Driscoll for their leadership in helping CDTA receive $770,000 in funding from the Department of Transportation’s Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP),” said CDTA Board Chairman David M. Stackrow.
This funding will support CDTA’s plans to enhance customer and pedestrian safety at the Lark and Washington intersection, one of the most difficult intersections in the City of Albany. The $1.3 million dollar project includes installation of a major customer waiting area and a new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) station at the Albany Public Library. It also includes intersection redesign work aimed at reducing traffic congestion and increasing safety.
Stackrow added, “When complete, customers will have better facilities, traffic will flow efficiently and pedestrians will be able to navigate through the intersection safely and confidently.”
This project is part of a larger vision that CDTA has for the Washington-Western Corridor. Building on the success of its limited-stop BRT service BusPlus, along Route 5, which was implemented in 2011, two more BRT lines are in the works. The “Purple Line” will run from downtown Albany to Crossgates Mall along the Washington-Western corridor and the “Blue Line” which would run from downtown Albany to Waterford along the River Corridor (Route 32). Both projects are under development and expected to be fully functional over the next three to five years.
Construction on the Washington Lark project is expected to start later this year.