Schenectady considers lowering speed limits
East Greenbush and Albany have voted to lower speed limits and soon leaders in Schenectady could do the same. On Monday evening the city will revisit a discussion about reducing city speed limits to 25 MPH.
SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (NEWS10) – East Greenbush and Albany have voted to lower speed limits and soon leaders in Schenectady could do the same. On Monday evening the city will revisit a discussion about reducing city speed limits to 25 MPH.
A Schenectady couple whose property has been hit by multiple speeding vehicles was told by city engineer’s that it was not possible to reduce speed limits on Kings Road but they may finally get the good news they’ve been looking for soon.
Property owners Tracey, and his wife Holli, Collins have been jolted awake by speeders who have crashed into their home. Their property, on the corner of Kings Road and Philomena Boulevard, has been hit eight times. In 2023, a car careened into a boulder on their property.
“At 3:30 in the morning, the car flying down the road hit one of our boulders. Took out our fence. Took out our siding. Took out our downspout,” said Collins.
He’s advocated for the city to lower speed limits since 2011 but ramped up his advocacy after that 2023 accident.
“Debris from the vehicle went flying and hit our gas meter. We had to have National Grid come out to inspect our gas meter a few times,” said Collins, adding it could’ve been fatal because their gas meter was narrowly missed.
After the 2023 crash he’s been showing up to city hall and consistently talking to city leaders about reducing the speed limits. Then, another accident almost exactly a year later, in March.
“The last incident was March of this year, March 23 when a car came from the bridge, took our whole entire fence line down. Moved our shed off of the foundation. Debris went flying and destroyed our screen on our sliding door and did some other damage,” said Collins. “We felt very, very scared. our home shook so bad that we thought we had a major earthquake when that car came through the yard.”
He said they appreciate the city for installing a guardrail in front of their home.
“But unfortunately, this person came behind the guard rail and did damage to my property and my neighbors property, took her fence out as well,” said Collins.
He wants the speed reduced and proper enforcement. He said they’ve spent $10,000 out of pocket on protective measures but still feel like sitting ducks.
“They had an engineer last year and they didn’t recommend lowering the speed limit,” said Collins.
A neighbor, who has lived on the block for 28 years, said he’s seen multiple car crashes on the property since the home was built in 2006 and has even helped during some of the incidents.
“There was one incident when somebody was coming down on a motorcycle and lost control and went into, at the time a fence was there, and crashed through the fence,” said the neighbor. “We went over to help him, made sure the guy was OK. Picked him up and waited for an ambulance.”
He echoes Collins and said they support reducing the speed limits and have gone down to city hall to advocate for the lowering as well.
“I really don’t know what the delay is. I do want to say the mayor has been very helpful but it’s just not moving forward right now. So, I don’t know what the problem is,” the neighbor said.
But that could all change soon. Councilwoman Carmel Patrick said she’s hopeful they’ll make progress on those efforts Monday night.
“We've certainly had requests from residents throughout the city. We heard from Mr. Collins on King’s Road who has been so patient with us for the last couple of years,” said Patrick. “But we’ve also had residents from the Stockade, from the GE plot, from Becker – throughout the city, in many many different neighborhoods – that are asking for this. So again I think the thing to do would be to lower the speed limit and then use data to make sure certain streets are exempted,” said Patrick.
She wants to see streets with heavier traffic flows be exempted and has been pushing for reduced speed limits since August of 2022.
“What I would like to see happen is for the city to reduce the speed limit to 25 MPH within the city limits, and then for us to have our staff make recommendations on those streets where 25 MPH is not a realistic goal,” said Patrick.
On Monday night the city council will get a presentation from the city traffic signal superintendent, the city engineer and police officers on the issues. Patrick said if all goes well, it could be voted on as early as next week. Collins, and his wife, want one thing.
“We love our home, but it seems like we can’t enjoy our home,” said Collins. “Understand that people live on these roads, people walk on these roads. Somebody’s going to be seriously hurt on this road and I hope and pray to god it’s not me and my wife.”