In November, area residents came to the Voorheesville firehouse to voice their concerns over losing access to Route 719. This week, the Capital District Transportation Authority announced a two-phase plan that will bring a large portion of the route back into service. 

Among the $76.4 million from the state for freight-rail infrastructure upgrades is $5 million to Norfolk Southern Railway “toward safety and service reliability enhancements, including the rehabilitation of 15 miles of track along the Voorheesville corridor, grade crossing resurfacing, the installation of welded rail, and other enhancements.”

In a Jan. 5 letter to the Surface Transportation Board, village attorney Allyson Phillips writes that Altamont is opposed to CSX’s attempted acquisition of Pan Am Systems because the running of a 1.7-mile-long train twice per day over the Main Street railroad crossing would leave parts of the village inaccessible to emergency responders for as long as 10 minutes.  

Voorheesville Mayor Rich Straut said on Dec. 21 the Quiet Zone and CSX-Norfolk Southern deal are “kind of attached at this point.” 

The bridge, on State Route 156 in Berne, was closed for about two months for repairs, forcing travelers to take a 5.2-mile detour. 

In 2019, Albany County decided on a $1.9 million plan to replace the rail-trail bridge with one that is tall enough to meet state requirements but, meanwhile, trucks continue to get stuck under the bridge.

Starting Saturday morning, no cash tolls will be collected on the New York State Thruway.

The conversion will take place simultaneously at 58 tolling locations across the Thruway’s 450-mile ticketed system.

The daily ridership of the CDTA has dropped by as much as 75 percent recently. 

The state’s Department of Environmental Conservation and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority announced this week that more than $24 million is now available to replace diesel-powered transit buses with new all-electric transit buses.

Jay Tyler, director of Emergency Medical Operations for Guilderland, said that the bridge closure won’t affect response time for ambulance service in the town. “The public shouldn’t fear. We’re able to get to them from either the east or the west,” he said.