Remsen Street project to begin
$800G in work to promote downtown walkability
COHOES, N.Y. » Motorists traveling on parts of Remsen Street in downtown Cohoes this week should expect to see workers starting a streetscape improvement project.
Using state and federal grant money, the city is having crews from Callanan Industries reconstruct Remsen Street between Cayuga and Ontario streets. On Monday morning, workers were beginning to mobilize near Canal Square, with construction work to begin later in the week.
Mayor Shawn Morse said the nearly $800,000 project is part of a larger effort to improve the walkability and quality of life in the downtown area. Residents and businesses alike will benefit from the improvements, which Morse said will include
new sidewalks, a bike lane, angled on-street parking on the east side of the street, a new CDTA Bus Rapid Transit station and repaved streets, all of which will accommodate safe, welcoming downtown visits.
“This is a transformational project,” said Morse on Monday. “This is what we’ve talked about, the revitalization of our downtown. We started where Canal Square Park is because it’s surrounded by all of the entertainment venues, as well as all of our senior housing.”
As a lifelong city resident, Morse said he knows and has heard from other residents that many city streets and sidewalks
are in rough shape.
“I think anybody who lives in the city of Cohoes knows that our sidewalks in the downtown are horrendous,” said Morse. “It’s the one thing that keeps me up at night, thinking about how we can fix the sidewalks downtown.”
Morse said that the city is planning to transform the remainder of Remsen Street in the future.
“This project is going to be the actual snapshot of what we hope in the very near future the entire Remsen Street will be,” said Morse. “There are a lot of things happening in our downtown area, and we need to make sure that people can walk down safe streets. You have to have curb appeal, and that’s what we’re working on.”
Once construction begins, city officials said traffic will be limited to one way, traveling north on Remsen Street, with lane closures starting with the west side of Remsen Street. Once completed, that section of Remsen Street will remain open to northbound one-way traffic to accommodate alternative forms of transportation.
City officials said they are aware the work could inconvenience downtown businesses, but he believes it won’t have a huge impact and will be worth it in the long run.
“There are some businesses down on this end of the project, and we’re going to be very consciousness to make sure that their businesses aren’t disrupted,” said Morse.
Morse said he is unsure how long construction will affect traffic, but he anticipates the project will be finished by the end of the year.
“Progress is sometimes a pain in the butt,” said Morse. “It causes delays, it causes dust, it causes noise, it causes inconvenience, and I know all of those things, so we’re trying to limit and minimize them, but it’s not going to be completely gone. What you hope for is that the end product is something that everybody in Cohoes can say, ‘Boy, that was worth the little bit of inconvenience that we had as we rebuild our city.’”
“There are a lot of things happening in our downtown area, and we need to make sure that people can walk down safe streets. You have to have curb appeal, and that’s what we’re working on.” — Mayor Shawn Morse