A Step Toward Linking Port Jervis Hiking/Biking Trails to Cross the State
A $170,000 grant application is in motion to hasten connection of the D&H Canal Trail to trails that would give hikers and bikers routes across New York State, said Orange County Planning Commissioner Alan Sorensen. The vision is far-reaching, but progress will be step by step, as this effort indicates.
“With the Covid-19 pandemic, people realized how valuable trails are for getting outside and possibly commuting,” said Sorenson. “We’d like to build on the extensive trail system we have. The New York State Consolidated Funding Application would enhance the D&H Canal Trail on the way to connecting with the O&W Trail,” a 27-mile trail from Kingston to Ellenville.
“Enhancing” includes clearing brush and fallen trees and grooming the D&H Trail in Cuddebackville to make it a 3.5 mile loop, but connecting with the O&W that goes through Sullivan County also requires getting right-of-way access through properties that divide and break up the trail.
Lack of those accesses limits available funding, Sorensen said. Other grants from the state transportation department’s Transportation Alternative Program would have been a possibility if segments of the D&H had been connected by right-of-way.
“There has to be a multi-modal link to a trail that’s possible to use to go somewhere significant, like commute to work in Port Jervis. The DOT favors projects that already have right-of-way,” Sorensen said.
“We sent letters of support for the grant application,” said Mike Ward, president of the Outdoor Club of Port Jervis. “Once the Cuddebackville D&H Canal Trail segments are done, we’d connect our trails with theirs. But it’s not in our contract to go beyond Port Jervis.”
He and his club cohorts have created 50 miles of trails through the Port Jervis Watershed, and he hopes for more county support to develop and link trails.
“Sullivan County really invested in the O&W,” he said, noting that the O&W can connect with the Empire Trail, which allows hiking from Manhattan to Albany and Buffalo. “The O&W is easier. It’s still broken up, but it’s on an old rail bed. They’re closer than they were three years ago. But Orange County hasn’t invested in trails. We need them to recognize the park area they own and use volunteers to develop it, to allow hiking and biking all over the state.”
He noted that money had been invested in the Heritage Trail, an 18-mile trail from Goshen to Harriman, but not in the trails around Port Jervis.
“Finally, we’re getting the county to develop trails around here,” Ward said.
CFA grant application decisions will come at the end of this year, Sorensen said.