New York State Parks is partnering with the Open Space Institute and the Town and Village of New Paltz to improve a 3.5-mile section of the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail, a key link in the Empire State Trail in Ulster County.
The 3.5-mile trail segment runs from Cragswood Road in the Town of New Paltz, south through the village to the Empire State Trail trailhead at Sojourner Truth Park. The project will remove the aging trail surface and install a new 10-foot wide bicycling and walking path, install drainage improvements to prevent trail erosion, and make safety improvements including installing signage and marked crosswalks at eight locations where the trail crosses public roads.
The Hudson River Valley Greenway has committed $900,000 to complete the project, with construction overseen by the Open Space Institute, a non-profit organization which completed a similar project in 2020 to improve an adjoining nine-mile trail section in the towns of Ulster and Rosendale which is also part of the Empire State Trail route.
More information can be found online.
Photo of empire state trail provided.
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