Clearance Rules establish the minimum safety distance various obstacles must be from a bike trail or path (signs, trees, and structures of all types). They have been adopted for bike trails and shared use paths for the safety and protection of all users and persons and property nearby. Etiquette Rules for their use have also been adopted and should be enforced for both the safety and the comfort (sense of safety, security or aesthetics) of trail users.  All major standard-setting guidelines state that a 3-foot clearance is required from a bike path to any stationary objects.

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 Bike Schenectady, our City’s Bicycling Infrastructure Master Plan, establishes such a 3-foot clearance for Schenectady’s bike and shared use paths, as do the relevant federal and state authorities, following the guidelines given in the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Guide for Development of Bicycle Facilities (AASHTO Bicycle Guide); the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways (MUTCD); and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines.

• A shorter clearance means a smaller safety buffer for persons on or along the trail, providing less space for emergency and discretionary stops, and a smaller recovery area if pedestrians, cyclists, or others are run off the trail.
• Fast-moving bikes and motorized bikes that are wider and heavier than traditional bicycles increase the risk created by inadequate buffers and clearances, as does the consistent failure of cyclists to alert pedestrians (by bell, horn, or voice) that they are approaching.

 The one-third-mile distance across Riverside Park has about two dozen trail clearances that are below the 3-foot standard clearance from the edge of the Trail to both pre-existing and new stationary obstructions (trees, signs, utility poles, trash cans, curbs, a giant pair of entry pillars, a Cycle! stand, and more). As a result, Riverside Park’s path has become even more dangerous and disrupting than I feared and discussed in detail in 2017, when its conversion to a transportation-oriented Shared Use Path was first proposed, after generations as a leisure-recreational path for low-key park uses.  It is hazardous for users of all ages and skill levels, whether cycling, walking, skateboarding, rollerblading, dog-walking, stopping to chat, viewing sunsets, or using wheelchairs, buggies or strollers.  Indeed, for the reasons detailed in the posting linked above, both cycling and walking advocates have for very good reasons discouraged converting pedestrain paths to shared-use paths.

 . . traditional uses along the Park pathway . .  

The images below show and describe clearance violations along the Riverside Park shared use path. Click on them for a larger image.

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• WIDE ENOUGH? We’re assured by local officials that the Bike Trail meets width standards. But, they ignore guidelines in AASHTO (2012, at 5.2.1) stating that, for a two-directional shared use path, “Wider pathways, 11 to 14 ft (3.4 to 4.2 m) are recommended in locations that are anticipated to serve a high percentage of pedestrians (30 percent or more of the total pathway volume).” Unless the shared use path scares away even more pedestrians, they will surely constitute at least 30% of the trail users at Riverside Park, requiring the path be more than its current width of ten feet to meet best practices recommendations. 
  • In a recent Daily Gazette Readers Forum column (March 26, 2026), Art Clayman, president of the cyclist advocacy group Cycle Schenecady, wrote that “12-or 14-foot designs [are] needed to safely accommodate e-bikes, adaptive cycles, and families.”
     

 

WHAT SHOULD BE DONE? Is there a remedy for the many safety hazards along the Riverside Park path? Most of the hazards cannot readily be removed (e.g., majestic shade trees, massive entry pillars). Given the great risk a shared use path creates to the nature of this treasured Park and the very minimal benefits even to cyclists (i.e., a few moments along the river and two or three fewer blocks on historic Front Street), the plan should have been abandoned long before it was publicly proposed. At this point, I suggest that bikes, scooters, and skateboards be walked across Riverside Park, as is required on the Jay Street Walkway and Stratton Plaza pedestrian pathway in downtown Schenectady. Cyclists can enjoy the Park and River while walking across the Path, or by staying awhile, or can use any of the streets that deadend at the Park to ride back to shared traffic lanes and the Empire State Trail.  

Click on the thumbnail to the right for other quotes explaining some of the serious reservations that Victoria Walks has about shared use paths.

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