Report is due out on trail links

By William J. Kemble, Correspondent Daily Freeman January 30, 2006

NEW PALTZ - The Southern Ulster Alliance, a group representing five towns in southern Ulster County, plans to issue a report next week outlining steps needed to connect dozens of trails and rail beds in the region.
Civil Technologies and Engineering, a Wappingers Falls firm, is doing the study, funded by a $19,000 grant awarded to the alliance last February by the Hudson River Valley Greenway Communities Council.
"They have put together a draft proposal that outlines where the trails could go," said Nadine Lemmon, a Gardiner town councilwoman said member of the alliance, which includes the towns of New Paltz, Gardiner, Plattekill, Lloyd and Marlborough.
"We're at the point where we would like to get public input," Lemmon said. "We want people to point out if there are other trails we should be looking at, if they have any kind of feedback on the trails or an ideas for them."
The report is expected to be presented at a 6:30 p.m. meeting of the alliance Feb. 6 at the Ulster BOCES Conference Center, 175 state Route 32.
The consulting firm recommends starting with a hiking, bicycle, and walking path along state Route 299 in New Paltz between the village and Highland.
"This will successfully link the Town of Lloyd Rail Trail with the Village of New Paltz, in providing that keystone foundational approach of linking the future Dutchess County Bridge and Rail Trail with the Ulster County region, into the Shawagunks," the report said.
The report recommends traffic studies to determine whether trail improvements can be made simultaneously with other state and federal programs.
The report recommends establishing a links from the state Route 299 bridge at the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail along North Putt Corners Road to Henry W. Dubois Drive, along North Putt Corners Road to Shivertown Road west, along Shivertown Road to Route 32 and return to the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail.
Another link along South Putt Corners Road would connect with the SUNY New Paltz campus, cross a service road and ultimately return to the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail.
If the Maybrook Trail is re-established, a link would connect two trails along Hurds Road, Brookside Road, Route 32 and Jansen Road, go back to the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail, and link with the Plattekill trail.
Other trails and links included in the proposal are as follows:
* Hudson Valley Rail Trail from U.S. Route 9W along Maybrook Rail Bed to ball fields off Route 299 and the railroad bridge.
* U.S. Route 44-state Route 55 in Gardiner from the rail trail to Minnewaska State Park.
* Milton Cross Road in Marlborough to U.S. Route 44/state Route 55 to the existing rail trail.
* Lattintown Road in Marlborough to the Milton Turnpike and through the hamlet of Milton to the Hudson River.
* From Lattintown Road in Marlborough, east along Plattekill Road to the Hudson River.
* Lattintown Road in Marlborough, south from the Plattekill-Marlborough town line to the power line marking the start of the Plattekill Trail.
* Route 44-55 between Modena and Gardiner as part of the Maybrook railroad bed.
* Mountain Walking Trail, also known as the River View Trail, from the rail trail in Lloyd at a 750-foot elevation on Illinois Mountain, through Bailey Gap south on Marlborough Mountain, and then to the Marlborough Main Trail.
* Plattekill Trail from Marlborough Trail heading north along the power lines to South Street, east on a spur to the Hemlock Ridge State Park, back to South Street, north along the power lines to New Paltz.
* A linking trail at the end of the Hudson Valley Rail Trail, along the south side of Route 299 to the Henry Dubois Trail.
* Wallkill Valley Rail Trail along the rail bed of the Wallkill Valley Railroad from Roseton to south of Gardiner.
* From a walking bridge at the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail to a place near the Ulster County Fairgrounds, ultimately connecting to the New Paltz-Shawangunk link.©Daily Freeman 2006

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