Friends of the Rail Trail will celebrate the official opening of a new three-mile section running through New Scotland as efforts continue toward expanding the trail’s size and usage.
There will be a ribbon cutting at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 7, at the beginning of the new section of Helderberg Hudson Rail Trail in Voorheesville, near the intersection of Voorheesville Avenue and Grove Street. The new 3-mile section of the trail extends from that intersection to Upper Font Grove Road. After the ribbon cutting, there will be a holiday party at the American Legion located at 31 Voorheesville Ave., with anyone welcome to attend.
“We have been working on it for quite some time, and just this fall, two bridges were made suitable for pedestrian use,” said Mark King, director of the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy. “It is a social gathering for folks to talk about what has happened, celebrate the successes and the future of the whole project.”
Volunteers recently finished improvements to the Vly Creek bridge in Voorheesville, including constructing railings and a new deck to safely span railroad ties. More complex improvements were also finished on the village bridge over Route 155, including installing fencing on each side for pedestrian and vehicle safety. Additional trail cleaning and mowing was done before opening the new portion.
The new three-mile portion is limited to pedestrian usage because of the existing trail surface quality and some unprotected, steep sections. King said bicyclists should not worry about being overlooked.
“This is an initial step to get folks exposed to what is out there and the opportunity that lies ahead to make this into a real first-class bike path,” King said. “It has really been a great supportive effort in the Bethlehem section, and I think people appreciate it and they want more — to make it a real bike trail.”
King said certain improvements must be made before bicyclists are approved to use the trail, with some steep drop-offs being a primary concern.
Albany County has started engineering and design work for a portion of the trail stretching from the South Pearl Street in Albany to the underpass on Delaware Avenue. That section would be completed as a paved, shared-use path for pedestrians and bicyclists.
The county is receiving federal grant funding to pave that portion of the trail, and King said additional grants are being sought to pave the rest of the Rail Trail.
“People are already out there using it and saying good things about it,” he said.
King said getting the Rail Trail to this point has taken “a lot of work” over more than 20 years. The Friends of the Rail Trail volunteer committee, which formed out of the Land Conservancy, has worked to promote the trail and continue progress.
“It has involved tremendous numbers of people and a lot of effort from a lot of people to keep that momentum moving,” he said. “We have been working really at a very grassroots level of getting local folks that are concerned and dedicated to the project to channel their energy … instead of waiting for grants to come.”
The completed trail will stretch nine miles from the City of Albany to the Village of Voorheesville and pass through the towns of Bethlehem and New Scotland.
The Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy is looking for trail ambassadors for the new section in Voorheesville, which would be like the program in Bethlehem. For information or to sign up as an ambassador, contact the MHLC office at 436-6346 or email [email protected].