Motorists on the New York State Thruway would be directed to Amsterdam if plans being pursued by the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce are successful.
The chamber last week announced it will be moving its office from 12 Bridge St., near the Route 30A bridge in Fonda, to the Riverfront Center in Amsterdam.
There, the chamber intends to develop a tourism information center.
Since the Riverfront Center is within a mile of Thruway Exit 27, the chamber may qualify for a Thruway Authority program that points tourists to information centers using signs and a question mark on toll tickets, chamber President Deborah Auspelmyer said.
“If we can pull more people in from out of the area via the Thruway, that’s a benefit not only for the city of Amsterdam but for the county as a whole,” she said.
“Anything we can do where we position ourselves for more visibility and the opportunity to drive people through our door is only going to help us develop tourism for the whole county,” Auspelmyer said.
The chamber moved to the South Bridge Street office in November 2006, a few months after its old offices at historic Guy Park Manor in Amsterdam were flooded.
The Fonda office is located near the 60-year-old Route 30A bridge spanning the CSX railroad tracks that’s scheduled for a yearlong replacement project.
The state Department of Transportation is expecting to let bids in October on the $5.8 million project, which will include a new three-lane bridge and a turning lane to relieve traffic congestion in the truck-heavy intersection.
The Riverfront Center, once a shopping mall that’s turned into an office building, houses about 60 tenants, according to a statement from Riverfront Properties managing member Joe Tesiero.
The Chamber of Commer expects to be moved into its new offices at 1166 Riverfront Center by May 3.
Categories: Schenectady County
