To the Editor:

As a resident of Guilderland, I think the proposition of the new hotel by Crossgates Mall can have a huge impact in my daily life especially with travel. The biggest part of my life that will be affected is transportation and driving. About four out of the seven days of the week, I drive past Crossgates to get on the Northway. I am concerned that the new hotel will back up traffic on Western Avenue as well as at the mall.

I saw the plans in The Altamont Enterprise about the new hotel and new roads that will be built around it. I like the idea of relocating Lehner Road to accommodate the buses, and the road will also align with the light connecting Western Avenue as well as leading right into Crossgates.

The idea is ingenious in my eyes since the bus stops at the mall are considered the busiest in the Albany transportation system. Once it is built, I hope that traffic will flow smoothly in that area, especially in the first months of completion. There will be an increased attendance in both people, and drivers, and will it be compatible to the traffic?

Another question I have is: How long will it take to build it? And, during construction, how will it affect traffic? If that area is always backed up, that could create commuting problems for everyone. If it’s for a decent amount of time, that might be an issue for me, as well as other drivers. It might add 15 to 20 minutes to my travel time, as well as some wasted gas, which I am concerned about.

There are also some benefits to the [Westmere Corridor] plan that I certainly like and that would improve the mall a lot. This plan would create a pedestrian bridge over the Northway, connecting Stuyvesant Plaza and Crossgates Mall would make shopping at the two easier. Western Avenue between the two iconic Guilderland landmarks is always busy.

Not only do you have two big shopping centers, but you also have a ramp leaving and going to the Northway. That bridge might limit traffic in that area since, when people are finished shopping at Crossgates, they could just walk over to Stuyvesant Plaza instead of driving and vise versa.

The hotel also might attract to town more people like travelers because of the airport, or people who just really like malls,. And people might migrate to the area for jobs. If the new hotel creates new jobs, that might help me and other college students when I come back to Guilderland for the summer next year.

The mall is a always a busy spot and there are almost always job openings in the mall. Even if I don’t get a single job there, other Guilderland residents will. Or people who live in other towns will move to Guilderland in search of work and the new hotel may be the job for them. So this will affect all workers but most likely the majority will be Guilderland workers, and I assume that some of the jobs that will be created by this hotel will have good pay.

Guilderland should go through with this project for a few reasons. It will bring good revenue and jobs to the town as well as more tourists. I could also imagine that the area will look beautiful by Western Avenue once it is done.

If there is any traffic created by this project, then I am sure that it will be dealt with in the future. The people designing and building this project should take traffic into consideration, and make it flow efficiently especially with this huge project.

I am excited to see whether or not this project goes through, as well as what impact it will have on this town. It will make Guilderland more connected and have almost a “downtown” feel to it.

Alex Mariano

Guilderland

Editor’s note: Alex Mariano wrote this letter in Christopher Mazura’s College Writing class at Guilderland High School.