Ashokan trail work could begin this month
KINGSTON, N.Y. » Construction of the Ashokan Rail Trail could begin by the end of the month, provided Ulster County lawmakers approve a resolution to fund the project.
County legislators later this month will consider a resolution authorizing the issuance of an additional $8.25 million in bonds to cover construction of the 11.5-mile trail along the north rim of the Ashokan Reservoir. The county already has spent $1.75 million for tree clearing and track removal along the corridor. Final clearing and preparation work is expected to be completed by the end of next week.
Of the total $9.98 million cost of project, the county will kick in $3.37 million. The remainder is coming from a mixture of state and New York City grants.
If the resolution authorizing
the funding is approved, construction of the trail could begin by the end of July or early August. Chris White, deputy director of the Ulster County Planning Department, said the contractor has been given a year to complete the trail.
The resolution to fund the second phase of the project goes before legislators in the wake of the county scoring a major victory
before the U.S. Surface Transportation Board, which ruled the former Ulster & Delaware Rail Corridor had been abandoned in the 1970s and was no longer under federal jurisdiction.
The ruling was a blow to the U&D Railway Revitalization Corp., which has been fighting the removal of tracks along the line and argued the tracks weren’t abandoned and therefore couldn’t be pulled up.
U&D Railway Revitalization Corp. spokesman Larry Roth said after the ruling that the group intends to
keep up its fight. He said that because of the ruling, the property along the 31.5mile corridor must be returned to the landowners whose properties the tracks traverse.
White said the county owns the majority of the corridor in “fee simple title,” meaning the county owns the property outright.
The largest portion of the corridor to which there is a reversionary issue, he said, is the 11.5-mile section owned by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection,
which operates the reservoir. The county has negotiated an agreement with the department that preserves the rail easement and also gives the county the right to construct a trail on the property.
Additionally, the city department has given the county a $2.5 million grant toward construction of the trail and has agreed to make improvements at the trail heads and parking areas.
White said in areas along the corridor where the county holds easements for railroad purposes, the track still is being used by trains, which means the county still is operating within the parameters of its easement over those lands.
“Our opponents don’t realize how much of this land we own in fee title,” said Deputy County Executive Kenneth Crannell. “We’re really confident in regards to what the county’s property rights position is.”
After four years of debate and discussion over the future of the former rail corridor, the Ulster County Legislature in August 2014 adopted a policy that provides for tourist-related rail opportunities on two sections of the right-of-way and for a recreational trail along the north rim of the reservoir.
The Catskill Mountain Railroad offers scenic and theme train rides on the tracks between Kingston and Hurley, and a company called Rail Explorers provides “rail bikes” for self-propelled use on the tracks between Boiceville and Phoenicia, where the Catskill Mountain Railroad used to operate.