A trail that will connect the communities of Clifton Park and Halfmoon has been placed first on the Capital District’s Transportation Committee’s prioritization list of enhancement projects to be recommended for state review.
The towpath will connect the two towns along their southern borders, most likely along Canal Road, according to Eric Hamilton, chairman of the Mohawk Towpath Scenic Byway Coalition. Right now, there’s a towpath trail in the Vischer Ferry Preserve, but it’s been abandoned for about a century now. On the Halfmoon side, the towpath trail was filled in the middle of the 20th century. Canal Road goes over that whole area.
The town of Halfmoon has acquired a grant to extend their Crescent trail westward, Hamilton said. The Erie Canal Towpath Community Connector will extend the Clifton Park towpath eastward to connect with the Crescent towpath. The town of Clifton Park has requested $1.68 million from the state Department of Transportation for the project.
`It’s going to require some engineering costs, to get around the Northway and to build a bridge over Wager’s Pond,` said Hamilton. `With that bridge, Clifton Park will have a connection with the Vischer Ferry Preserve.`
The CDTC received 23 transportation enhancement program proposals in mid-July. An evaluation team with representatives from NYSDOT Region 1, CDTA, the state Department of Health, Parks and Trails New York, and three CDTC staff members reviewed each project. Prioritization was based on the overall ranking by the evaluation team, the cost effectiveness of each project, and geographic balance of the projects.
In the previous round of transportation enhancement programs, the Capital District received roughly $4 million. While it is unknown what amount of funding will be finally approved for this round of programs, CDTC executive director John Poorman said there is $64 million available statewide, a sum slightly higher than in previous rounds.
The towpath connection program was ranked first because of its benefit to the community, said Hamilton. Parts of the existing paths along the canal are dangerously narrow, but are attractive to cyclists and hikers because of their rural quality. This project will provide a safe and accessible means for outdoorsmen to traverse the canal.
`Plus, it provides access to some of the more historical assets the canal region has to offer,` said Hamilton.
Poorman, however, said the towpath project may have had another advantage in the ranking process: its cost.
The way the review process works at the state level, cost is not taken into account, but community impact is. `So, you’d expect larger cost projects to score higher than lower cost ones,` Poorman said.
Regardless of why it was recommended, Hamilton said he is just happy the project has been endorsed, and that the towpath will allow Clifton Park to showcase the canal as an attraction for visitors.
`When I moved to Clifton Park in 1968, there were all of these complaints that the town didn’t have a main street,` he said. `Then, all of a sudden, we realized that the Erie Canal was our main street.` “