The Hudson River Valley Greenway (HRVG) has released the Albany-Hudson Electric Trail 2022 Trail Use Report. HRVG constructed and operates the Albany–Hudson
Electric Trail (AHET), a 36–mile recreational “rail trail” in Rensselaer and Columbia Counties.
The report includes visitation numbers to four different trail sections on the Albany-Hudson Electric Trail (AHET) using automated counters to count users and a visual trail use survey to analyze user types.
In 2021, HRVG initiated a program to collect data on the public’s use of the AHET by installing four automated counters along the 36-mile rail trail. The “Pyro-Box” counters, manufactured by the company Eco-Counter, use an infrared sensor to record the number of trail users passing by the unit, and store data in hourly increments.
The four AHET counters registered a total of 168,238 trail users during a 12-month period from November 1, 2021, to October 31, 2022:
- Town of East Greenbush: 54,555 visits
- Village of Nassau: 31,798 visits
- Hamlet of North Chatham: 33,379 visits
- Village of Kinderhook: 48,506 visits
To understand how people use the AHET trail, HRVG conducted visual surveys of trail users in various locations over 14 hours during September and October 2022. During the visual survey, pedestrians accounted for 56% of AHET visitors and bicyclists accounted for 44%. The survey also accounted for types of pedestrian and bicyclist visitors, which can be viewed in the full report.
The Albany-Hudson Electric Trail 2022 Trail Use Report is the first analysis of the AHET since its completion in 2020. The 168,238 visits counted at the four locations capture only a fraction of the total number of visitors along the entire 36–mile route. In 2024, after three years of data has been collected at 12 different locations, HRVG is expected to have sufficient data to project total annual visitation to the entire 36–mile trail.
In addition, during 2023 HRVG will conduct additional visual surveys on the AHET trail, to expand the detailed data on specific types of trail users presented in this report.
The non–motorized AHET trail is 10–feet wide with gentle grades and an improved surface welcoming bicyclists, walkers and runners of all ages and abilities. The trail is open year–round from dawn to dusk. The AHET trail is part of New York State’s 750–mile Empire State Trail, which runs from New York City to Canada and Buffalo to Albany.
Photo of Albany–Hudson Electric Trail provided.
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