Wallkill Valley Rail Trail improvements to begin
Improvement work along a 12-mile section of the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail will set the stage for including it in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Empire State Trail that is expected to open next year.
Initial work along the trail corridor will include the clearing of overgrown hazard trees and shrubs, according to a press release from the Open Space Institute and the Wallkill Valley Land Trust. The work will be donated by volunteers, organizations, local businesses and the town of Rosendale Highway Department along the trail in the towns of Rosendale and Ulster with the exception of a quarter-mile section by Williams Lake.
Later improvements will be funded by a 2013 New York state Recreational Trails Program grant and a 2017 New York state Environmental Protection Fund grant, both obtained by the Open Space Institute and Wallkill Valley Rail Trail. Private fundraising will provide an additional $750,000 for the project. The clearing work will establish an eight-to 10-foot wide passage for the entire 12-mile length of the rail trail and will prepare for major improvements later this year.
Future work is to include repairing three small bridges and installing railings, repairing and fencing culverts and drainage infrastructure, improving road crossings, constructing a disability access path from the Binnewater parking lot to the Rosendale trestle, and regrading the entire section of trail.
Kim Elliman, president and chief executive officer of the Open Space Institute, said the trail builds on the agency’s ongoing efforts to construct the Riverto-Ridge Trail in New Paltz.
The rail trail will continue to be open to the public, though there may be brief closures in some spots for safety reasons.
The Wallkill Valley Rail Trail is a 23.7-mile trail and linear park that runs along the former Wallkill Valley railroad corridor between Kingston and Wallkill.
The Empire State Trail, planned for completion in 2020, would create a 750mile bike and walking pathway from New York City to Canada and from Albany to Buffalo.