Ballston Spa to have bike lane demonstration starting June 28

Stephen Williams, The Daily Gazette, Schenectady, N.Y.
·2 min read

Jun. 20—BALLSTON SPA — The village will be having a bike-lane demonstration later this month and hosting an outdoor public meeting June 28 as it moves forward with studying possible bike and pedestrian transportation improvements in its historic downtown and surrounding neighborhoods.

The bike lane demonstration will take place June 28 to July 6 on a one-block section of Hyde Boulevard between Chapman Street and Grove Street. With Hyde being one of the village's widest streets, the road will have temporary bicycle lanes marked in both directions. Afterward, the public will be able to fill out a survey on what they thought.

Hyde Boulevard is potentially a bicycle corridor as village officials try to figure out how riders who reach the end of the county-owned Zim Smith Trail at Oak Street can move through the village, either to reach Ballston Spa's business district or move on toward Saratoga Springs.

"We get a fair amount of bike traffic on Hyde, people coming off Zim Smith Trail," said village Trustee Liz Kormos, the Village Board liaison to the study.

The $90,000 Ballston Spa Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan, expected to be completed around the end of the year, is being funded by the Capital District Transportation Committee. It could lay the groundwork for the village to seek federal and state funding to upgrade the sidewalk system and create designated bike routes.

On Wednesday, June 30, project consultants will be at Kelley Park from 6 to 8 p.m. to discuss the project with village residents and hear their thoughts and ideas. There will be a short presentation at the beginning of the meeting, followed by an open house.

Kormos said the results of a public survey done this spring on sidewalk needs and sidewalk conditions in the village will be released at the meeting.

Still to come are traffic counts that will determine the level of car and truck use on village streets, including Hyde — a notorious commercial truck cut-through, even though a village ordinance prohibits tractor-trailers from using the road except for local deliveries.

"There is going to be a lot of useful information that comes out of this that we can use for decision-making," Kormos said. "A lot of times when people come to us what they bring is anecdotal, and this will give us data."

The planning study is being conducted for the CDTC and the village by two Capital Region consultants, the engineering firm VHB and Planning4Places.