There are new options for exercising in Albany’s South End — part of a larger bike trail expansion.

Mayor Kathy Sheehan, elected officials and community partners announced the official opening of Phase Two of the South End Connector on Saturday, a $1.7 million effort.

The project includes a two-way cycle path, food truck areas and a pop-up event space. Beneath Interstate-787 between Church Street and the intersection of Broadway and Quay Street, you’ll find areas to stretch, sit, lift weights and even play basketball.

Sheehan says the connector aims to enhance community well-being, promote local businesses, and foster a sense of pride and potential in Albany.

“It is space that was imagined by this neighborhood. Basketball, as we all know, is huge in Albany. So we have a basketball facility. We have a cycle track, because we’re along the protected bike lane that takes people from the Rail Trail and down to the Empire Trail. And then a little further down, there’s a new workout facility, outdoor workout facility, where people can activate exercise and think about making sure that they’re staying active and staying healthy,” said Sheehan, who tipped her hat to 109th district state Assemblymember Pat Fahy, a fellow Democrat who helped secure funding for the project. Fahy, a state Senate candidate, says the initiative is in line with the eventual “taking down parts of 787.”

A day earlier, several draft renderings of how the corridor could be reconfigured were released after years of discussion and public input.

 “And reclaiming our greatest natural resource by reconnecting Albany fully with, again, its greatest natural resource, the mighty Hudson River. We’re so close, and yet so far,” said Fahy. 

Sheehan says Albany’s next 100 years begins with looking at what the city can do now.

 “We can’t give up on these spaces. This is now a space in this neighborhood. So how do we make it a space that this neighborhood can use and be proud of? How can we celebrate the fact that we’ve created this incredible bike infrastructure in New York State, and we’re continuing to build on that bike infrastructure and not pull the neighborhood into the future that that is helping to bring about for not just our city, but for our entire region,” Sheehan said. 

South End Neighborhood Association president JoAnn Morton lauded a free learn-to-ride a bike event for children that preceded the gathering.

“When I reflect back to when we started these conversations about the South End Connector, people in the community didn’t necessarily feel like that the bike trail was for us. But then when this whole idea about the park and bringing these little, you know, two of these little guys down riding their bikes, training wheels, you know, people bicycling through, I didn’t feel like it was necessarily safe for them as beginner riders. But then, when we talked, you know, there were surveys done, talked to the planning department, and this whole thing about, and I keep looking back behind me, the lanes for the bicycles, but also for the vendor trucks. It was like we talked about, like things that we were concerned about. And I’m happy to see that those things have come to fruition,” Morton said.

Sheehan says there’s one more thing on the list – situating a public restroom facility nearby. She says there’s a pilot program underway in Black Lives Matter Park which, if successful, could be duplicated at the Connector site.