Clifton Park receives $1.78 million in state funding to support walkability initiatives

Andrew Waite, The Daily Gazette, Schenectady, N.Y.
·2 min read

Jun. 27—CLIFTON PARK — The town of Clifton Park announced Monday a big step forward in its plans to make the Town Center area more walkable.

The town received $1.781 million in Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) funding from New York state, according to a Monday press release from Clifton Park Supervisor Phil Barrett.

The funding will support the town's conversion of the Town Center's Clifton Country Road Corridor, off Exit 9 of the Adirondack Northway, into a walkable "Main Street" area.

Specifically, the funding will help enhance pedestrian and bicyclist facilities along Clifton Country Road and build on the various crossing improvements that are nearly complete with the help of a $440,000 grant under the NYS Department of Transportation Pedestrian Safety Action Plan, according to the release. The $1.78 million TAP funding will pay for new walkways on both sides of Clifton Country Road from where the road intersects with Route 146 to the intersection with Clifton Park Center Road, as well as a new crosswalk near the CoreLife Eatery.

Clifton Park has been developing the Town Center plan since 2008 with the goals to improve traffic flow, walkability, connectivity and aesthetics as well as to diversify the business uses in the area, according to the release.

"The new project funding announced for Clifton Country Road continues our significant progress of attaining the goals established during the Town Center planning process," Barrett said in the release. "We will continue to improve our Town Center for residents to enjoy and sustain the economic success we have achieved, which provides services close to home."

As part of the larger initiative, the town recently broke ground on a new 37-acre park on Maxwell Road Extension near Route 146.

The town has also received $12 million via a partnership with the New York State Department of Transportation for planning a redesign of the Route 146 corridor from Route 9 to Clifton Country Road.

"All of these initiatives complement each other," Barrett said Monday.

Andrew Waite can be reached at awaite@dailygazette.net and at 518-417-9338. Follow him on Twitter @UpstateWaite.