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SCHENECTADY
Changes to Route 5 stretch progressing
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter

    Changes are coming for a stretch of Route 5 running between the Crosstown Connection (Route 7) and Balltown Road.
    Work is advancing on a federally funded $6.2 million overhaul of Route 5 as state offi cials prepare to implement a bus rapid transit service between Schenectady and Albany. Contractors have already completed a number of sidewalk and bus shelter improvements along a 7.5-mile stretch of Route 5 and are expected to start repaving the area near Schenectady’s eastern border over the next month.
    When they fi nish, motorists can expect to see a somewhat altered configuration of Route 5 as it approaches downtown Schenectady. The road will be striped for one lane in each direction with a center lane for left turns.
    Pete Van Keuren, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, said the striping change should help improve traffi c flow and reduce rear-end collisions, which are fairly common on that stretch of road. That stretch is only striped for two- lane travel, but motorists typically use it like a four-lane thoroughfare. He said state planners did consider striping the road for four lanes but opted for the three-lane configuration under the advice of the city engineer.
    “It’s much safer,” he said. “It not only introduces the left-hand turn lane, it takes that portion of roadway and clearly delineates where the lane is.”
    The project is using federal stimulus money to complete work that will one day allow the Capital District Transportation Authority to run the proposed Bus Rapid Transit service along Route 5. Work includes the construction of 36 new handicapped-accessible bus shelter ramps, the installation of curb cuts at 159 intersections and the upgrading of 34 pedestrian crossings. ................>>>>.................>>>>................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00903&AppName=1

More great ideas

Bottle necks

Watch how "fast" the buses go, they'll be later than ever

And you know what's "funny."    You are going eastbound, I'm going westbound, we both have to be in the same turn lane.  I am turning left on the street one street away, west of the street you are trying to make a left turn on to.  Blocks are short,  We each get into the same lane.  

Now, are you an oncoming car in my lane in front of me or vice versa?