This is a drawing of the “Plaza Street” section of Water Avenue from Walker Macy’s 2021 “final design” of the Albany Waterfront Project.
So what exactly is this so-called “Plaza Street” that imposes the cost of underground power lines on Pacific Power customers in Albany?
To get a description of this part of the CARA Waterfront project, I looked at the “final design” submitted for public comment in March 2021 by Walker Macy, the Portland firm hired by the City of Albany to design the overall project:
“Water Avenue adjacent to Monteith Park will be reimagined as a pedestrian-friendly environment that can be closed to vehicles at times to create a flexible space for park events and seasonal markets. Plaza Street features include decorative paving, street trees and furniture, new sidewalks, and multimodal access improvements. Traffic calming measures and other safety measures will help reduce the speed of through traffic.”
That may sound a bit vague, but we will see the reality in the coming months.
“Multimodal access improvements?” I bike around the corner of Washington Street and Water Avenue several times a week. I’m not aware of any access issues at that end of Water Avenue, so I’m excited to find out what multimodal access improvements there might be.
The same goes for “traffic calming” and “safety updates.” This is not exactly a busy road, let alone fast-moving traffic, so again, we’ll wait and see what the project brings.
The agreement, which the council approved Monday, states that Pacific Power will charge its Albany customers a monthly surcharge for two years to offset the cost of burying power lines underground as part of the Plaza Street plan. The surcharge is estimated to be about $4 a month for each of the utility’s 4,500 Albany customers.
The city government did not factor in these costs, estimated at about $2.4 million, into the Albany Waterfront Project budget, leaving taxpayers to foot the bill. Now it will try to raise some money from the CARA urban renewal program to cover at least part of the cost.
Be that as it may, I hope that even after its completion, Plaza Street will still be the “multimodal” bicycle and traffic route that it is now. (hh)
In order to be able to hold events there, “Platzstraße” can be closed to traffic.
