Albany Freeway Ramp Reimagined as Park, Trail

An underutilized former freeway ramp in Albany, New York was converted into a linear park, providing a model for how freeways and their surrounding infrastructure can be transformed into useful neighborhood amenities.

As Robert Steuteville explains in Congress for New Urbanism’s Public Square, “The $15 million Skyway—converting an Interstate ramp into a half-mile bike-ped corridor and park—realizes part of a long-held community vision to take back the waterfront as an accessible urban amenity,” writes Steuteville.

When first built, Interstate 787 displaced 7,000 residents and severed neighborhoods from the Hudson River. “Prior to the Skyway, reaching the waterfront from downtown required passage through public parking areas, a tangle of highway lanes, multiple signalized intersections, and unmarked and unlit walkways.”

The new park totals 3.3 acres and 2,680 feet in length from the intersection of Clinton Avenue and Broadway in downtown to US Route 9 by the river. Along the way are a 3,000 square foot outdoor art gallery, seating capacity for 600 people, 90,000 square feet of softscape park space with over 20,000 native plants and trees, and a 5,000-square-foot shaded area.

Steuteville adds, “The Skyway maximizes its limited resources by reclaiming an underutilized asset in a way that is aligned with Albany's vision for the future: an equitable and connected pedestrian and bicycle-friendly community.”