by nysw3636
The bridge over Mile Hill Road is now finished and open to vehicular traffic. I've been told that work on the rail trail is ahead of schedule.
Railroad Forums
Moderator: railtrailbiker
Walkers, bikers and skaters have reason to celebrate: CSX Railroad will sell Walkway Over the Hudson several pieces of land that will connect the walkway and the Dutchess Rail Trail -- providing a recreational resource envisioned for years stretching from East Fishkill north to the City of Poughkeepsie and into Ulster County.
The acquisition of the rail bed and properties in the city and town of Poughkeepsie provides a long-sought link between the walkway and trail.
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. (AP) -- Dutchess County has obtained a stretch of former rail bed that will connect the popular Walkway Over the Hudson with a local trail.
The Poughkeepsie Journal reports (http://pojonews.co/MfpDXK ) that the Walkway's nonprofit organization paid CSX railroad just over $1 million last week for the eight-tenths of a mile stretch of the rail bed in the city of Poughkeepsie. The acquisition will connect the Walkway with the Dutchess Rail Trail.
Walkway Over the Hudson has donated the rail trail to the county. Once the trail is paved, it will be part of a 12-mile trail system in Dutchess County.
The former Poughkeepsie-Highland Railroad Bridge opened to the public in 2009 as the Walkway Over the Hudson State Park. It attracts nearly a half million visitors a year.
Rail-trail extension underway near New Paltz
Chris White, the project manager for Ulster County, said the county is in charge of its 1.25-mile piece of the 5.5-mile-long project.
The Town of Lloyd has a .7-mile piece to the east back to the Walkway Over the Hudson by the Metro North train station.
The state Department of Transportation is charting the path of its 3.5-mile section, leading from near Lowe’s on Route 299 west into the Village of New Paltz, across Route 32 to the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail heading north.
The project will also link up to the trail that’s planned across the valley floor west to the Shawangunk Ridge.