A Trip to the Trails of Western New York
In mid-June, the PTNY Greenway Trails Team set off for Western New York to pay a visit of some of the trails and communities with which we've been working.
Getting to Work in the Genesee Valley
Right off the bat, PTNY got to work conducting a Bike Around Assessment of the Genesee Valley Trail Town of Avon. Together with our partners at Letchworth Gateway Villages, PTNY staff led a group of community members on a ride to take a look at the conditions of the route between the Greenway and the village, biking conditions within the village and to key destinations, and the overall bike and pedestrian friendliness of the community and local businesses. The Village of Avon is a welcoming Trail Town with a short and sweet connector trail (the Erie-Attica) that brings Greenway users almost all the way into town. While there are opportunities to make some of the intersections and roads around the town more bike-friendly, Avon’s homey, downtown streets and lovely parks and green spaces make it a Trail Town you do not want to miss!
While in the region, PTNY took the opportunity to install trail user counters at new locations along the Greenway to best capture trail use across the entire corridor. In 2021, PTNY collected data in the Trail Town communities of Scottsville, Mt. Morris, and Cuba, which was analyzed and published in the Who’s on the Trail: Genesee Valley Greenway report. In 2022, the trail counters were moved to three new locations, including the Greenway near Avon, the Hamlet of Piffard, and the Nunda Branch Trail.
The trip continued with a visit to the Village of Fillmore, located near the southern end of the Greenway. PTNY staff met with one of the Trail Town committee members to provide feedback and technical assistance on their vision for how to best take advantage of their Genesee Valley Trail Town grant, made possible by funding from the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation. Initially, the trail town committee had applied for funds to demolish an abandoned tennis court adjacent to the Greenway, envisioning the public green space as a gateway to the trail. When the Town Supervisor heard about this plan, they stepped up, offering to demolish the tennis court for free. With these funds opened up, the conversation focused on ways the town could invest in other infrastructure improvements, such as more bike racks or other creative strategies for creating a welcoming public space.
Checking out the Erie-Catt
PTNY staff continued further west to meet with representatives of the Erie Cattaraugus Rail Trail. Erie Cattaraugus Rail Trail Inc. is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization and trail manager for the railbanked portion of the Buffalo-Pittsburgh Railway running from Orchard Park to West Valley, NY. The Erie Cattaraugus Rail Trail has the potential to serve as a core piece of the proposed Southern Tier Trail, which would run for 80 miles between Buffalo and the southern end of the Genesee Valley Greenway in Hinsdale.
Staff met in Springville, which has the longest continuous stretch of the trail open today with the 1.8-mile Springville “Pop Warner” Trail, which opened in 2016. In Downtown Springville, PTNY and ECRT leaders walked for a short distance with Springville’s mayor and other representatives of village government, and discussed the potential for economic benefits to the community with the continued development of the trail and its integration into the broader regional trail network. Once complete, connections will be available in Buffalo to the Empire State Trail and in Hinsdale to the Genesee Valley Greenway, creating numerous opportunities for longer-distance trail journeys.
PTNY and ECRT walked north along the trail, observing the current surface and signage conditions and sharing best practices on ways to maximize public use of the trail corridor. At a small trout pond, ECRT shared plans for a future fishing access area that would connect directly with the trail. Finally, staff drove down to where the corridor crosses the Cattaraugus Creek. While not open to the public today, the “Cascade Bridge” that carried the rail line over the creek is still standing. ECRT hopes to rehabilitate the bridge and have it serve as a centerpiece for the trail. Once completed and opened, the trail would be a regional destination, offering stunning views of the Cattaraugus Creek valley.
Low Bridge, High Water: A Celebration of the Canal in the First Empire State Trail Town
The Village of Brockport's annual celebration of the opening of the canal was not one to be missed! PTNY got the opportunity to join in on the fun on Saturday, June 11, setting up a table to chat with festival-goers about the Empire State Trail Town pilot program, and how residents and visitors could get involved by filling out a survey to capture their feedback and experience of the village and trail. Together with our friends at Walk!Bike!Brockport!, we got to talk with a lot of folks about what it's like to walk and bike in and around the Village. Live music, sunshine, and a light breeze off the canal set the scene for the perfect day, with the festival culminating in the unveiling of the freshly-painted canal mascot, Phebe the Mule.
The event was not complete without a demonstration of the Conference Bike, a specialized piece of recreational equipment brought over by Camp Abilities, a week-long educational sports camp for children with visual impairments that takes place on the campus of SUNY Brockport each year. The six-seated bike controlled by one driver creates the opportunity for folks with visual impairment to feel the wind in their hair as they ride down the street. A quick ride around the block confirmed that the multi-person bike is in fact a blast to ride!