It’s time to start building the trail

Dear Editor, For the past several years, the proposed 11.6-mile Ashokan Rail Trail has been exhaustively studied, and its physical, legal and environmental conditions analyzed by Ulster County. All alternatives (rail, trail, rail with trail, etc.) were considered, ultimately leading to the Ulster County Legislature’s unanimous adoption of UC Resolution No. 488 in December 2015 — “The Compromise.”

The compromise recognizes that the physical configuration through the Ashokan lands of New York City affords little-opportunity for a side-by-side configuration. The width of the existing rail bed is lacking in most places without extensive additional engineering and construction. And the city Department of Environmental Protection must ensure the protection of the Ashokan Reservoir, the drinking water supply for 9 million people, including multiple Hudson Valley communities.

All negotiations conducted between Ulster County and New York City have been premised on these realities. In recent negotiations, the county achieved a breakthrough with the Department of Environmental Protection, a new, permanent Ashokan Trail easement providing for trail construction and public use, while preserving the county’s underlying perpetual legal right to reactivate rail use.

New York city and the state have awarded nearly $6.6 million in funding to construct the world-class, 11.6-mile trail at the Ashokan Reservoir. This could be completed by the end of 2018.

It’s time to see the policy realized and to build an accessible trail, open to all, year-round without permit or fee, for locals and for visitors from near and far.

Support the compromise; it’s time to build our trail.

Kevin Smith Co-chairman, Friends of the Catskill Mountain Rail Trail

Bearsville, N.Y.