In New York State’s capital city, few streets are as well-known as Lark Street. Often referred to as the “Greenwich Village of Albany,” Lark Street is renowned for its eclectic neighborhood vibe. It is the home of local artisans, hip nightlife, small independent businesses, art galleries, LGBTQ pride and regional festivals that have closed the entire street. It is also in the heart of Albany’s Center Square-Hudson Park Historic District, one of the oldest in the city. Its residents and business owners are urban-centric, pedestrian-minded, and enthusiastic about their neighborhood. Creation of a “pedestrian-only” street environment would likely garner wide support in the neighborhood.
However, Lark Street is also the primary south-north urban arterial through midtown Albany (also known as US 9W), linking two of the largest towns in Albany County (Bethlehem to the south, Colonie to the north). Lark Street’s importance as a major commuter route (with annual average daily traffic approaching 10,000) cannot be understated, particularly since there are no other convenient alternative routes in the vicinity.
This has always been the challenge of Lark Street: how to support the community’s desire for a pedestrian-centric neighborhood street while still providing for the car-centric nature of its functional classification.
The City of Albany is one of the oldest surviving settlements of this country’s original 13 colonies. It was also the end point for Henry Hudson’s 1609 exploration of the river that now bears his name. The Dutch settlement of Fort Nassau was built near present-day Albany in 1614. The city, the oldest in the state of New York, was charted in 1686 and became its capital in 1797.
In the 18th century, Simeon DeWitt laid out the street plan of the city, with Lark Street still thriving today. Over the next two centuries, Lark Street evolved from cobblestone streets for horses and buggies, later a trolley system, and finally to the automobile. Lark Street held firmly to its past, with many of the old brick and stone structures reflecting its history. Those same buildings also defined the narrowness of the street’s current width. Sandwiched between the buildings today is just enough room for sidewalks, two travel lanes and one narrow parking lane.
The last major rehabilitation of Lark Street occurred 20 years ago. That project replaced all sidewalks and rehabilitated the pavement structure, including removal of the old trolley tracks still embedded in the cobblestone roadway base. It also added decorative lighting and traffic signals and replaced the overgrown mature trees. As a nod to the past, pavement at the signalized intersections was reconstructed using salvaged cobblestones.
Now, after another 20 years, the pavement has once again reached the end of its service life, and the city has obtained federal funding for a street rehabilitation. Fortunately for the city, the chosen design firm CHA Consulting, Inc., (CHA), employed the same design team from the previous rehabilitation 20 years earlier. The team was already familiar with the street, the neighborhood, the politics and challenges associated with it.