Schenectady couple safer after city installs guardrail

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (NEWS10) – A Schenectady couple feels safe at home after the city installed a guardrail on their property. This happened after the couple’s home had been hit by multiple cars over the years. 

Tracey Collins and his wife Holli have been jolted awake to find a vehicle crashed on their property. They said it’s happened 7 times. That’s why they advocated for the city to lower the speed limit on Kings Road.

They live near a bend where, Collins said, speeders often lose control of their vehicles and find their way onto his property. The last time it happened was in March. Collins said a lot of debris came through his fence and into his yard, hitting a gas meter. 

“There was more concern about the children, they felt unsafe playing in the yard,” Collins said about his grandchildren. “Somebody may be coming through the fence again and now that this is up, we feel a little bit more safer to at least enjoy our yard.”

Now that Schenectady has installed this guardrail he said they can fall asleep easier at night.

“Since your story filmed back last year, and the city saw the commercial tow truck almost going on our lawn. Within a few days the mayor came up and the city engineer, Chris Wallin, and they decided on giving us a guardrail,” said Collins. 

The city has taken additional measures to ensure public safety in the area, outside of what Collins and his wife asked for. For example, this crosswalk that was installed with flashing beacons for pedestrians.

“It’s part of the ongoing efforts we’re doing in the city with ‘Complete Streets’. So we’re doing upgrades, looking to make improvements so that the community is more walkable and more safe when you’re driving, and that’s just one example of it,” said Mayor Gary McCarthy. 

McCarthy said the decision was made through data analysis, after looking at traffic flow. He said it made sense to make these changes in this area, because there’s a lot of foot traffic with a nearby nursing home, school and park.

“We get the opportunity to get the biggest bang for our buck by making improvements in those situations,” said McCarthy.

He encouraged all Schenectady residents to use the city’s online platform — See, Click, Fix — to report non-emergency problems they may encounter. McCarthy says the platform enables them to get the problem in their system so they can track it and follow up. 

 “We want to thank the mayor and Chris Wallin and his staff in the engineering department,” said Collins.