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Last week, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) sent letters to the heads of CSX Corp., Amtrak and the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) urging them to include a pedestrian walkway in plans for a Livingston Avenue rail bridge that would link Albany and Rensselaer, N.Y.

Schumer, who previously secured $2 million in federal funding to finance a study to help determine whether to rehabilitate or replace the bridge, wants to ensure that pedestrians and bicyclists can easily travel between the two cities, he said in a prepared statement. The current bridge is unsafe for pedestrian travel and has been closed to foot traffic for decades, Schumer added.

The state plans to reconstruct the bridge as part of an effort to create a rail link between Albany and western New York. CSX, Amtrak, NYSDOT and the Federal Railroad Administration are involved in feasibility studies and in designing a potential bridge replacement.
 
“Failing to include a pedestrian component in this bridge would be shortsighted,” Schumer said.