Orange County Shows New Details for Schunnemunk Rail Trail Project

Orange County residents voiced their suggestions and concerns for the trail from Chester to Cornwall.

People talk at the Schunnemunk Rail Trail Project meeting in Washingtonville, N.Y., on Jan. 15, 2026. Oliver Mantyk/The Epoch Times

WASHINGTONVILLE, N.Y.—Orange County and HVEA Engineers held an open-house-style public meeting to ask for feedback on newly revealed plans for the Schunnemunk Rail Trail, hoping to make changes and hear the concerns of the people it will be made for.

The trail is a 10-mile bike and foot path planned to start in the town of Chester and end at the Salisbury Mills-Cornwall Station. The Schunnemunk will connect to the Heritage Trail, a multi-use 19.5-mile rail trail that stretches from the city of Middletown to the village of Harriman at the soon-to-be park at Camp LaGuardia in Chester.

The Schunnemunk will run along the former Erie-Lackawanna Railroad corridor and is part of a larger plan to connect the major areas of the county with bike and foot paths. The trail will go through downtown Washingtonville.

HVEA Engineers is a consulting firm that is working with the county to design the project. They work on many projects throughout the Hudson Valley, including runway rehabilitation at JFK Airport and highway renovation in the village of Woodbury area.

The meeting at the Washingtonville Village Hall on Jan. 15 brought in many locals who wanted to know about what is happening with the Schunnemunk Rail Trail. The main room of the village hall had informational posters set up and long satellite images of the trail that covered two walls. Visitors were encouraged to put sticky notes on the trail with suggestions.

The trail will be 12 feet wide, but it will be 16 feet wide in more populated areas such as Washingtonville. There is also a possibility that Orange County will create a “bikeway corps” to help with constructing the path. The corps would be made up of public employees from multiple departments and would help form institutional knowledge on bike trail construction.

Because of the proximity of the trail to the Metro-North train and local bus routes, the county was able to acquire an undisclosed amount of funding from the Federal Transit Administration to help with the $28 million total price tag for the project. The rail trail bikeway projects are funded with 80 percent federal money.

The construction of the first two miles starting at Camp LaGuardia will begin soon, and the design for the other eight miles will be finalized in 2027.

Recommendations given by locals during the meeting included adding easy access paths to nearby communities, putting trash bins on the path, and connecting the trail to local Orange County Land Trust preserves. Some raised concerns about adequate parking or worried about the effects on properties that are next to the trail.

One avid hiker suggested to the HVEA that they create a better logo for the Schunnemunk Rail Trail.

Washingtonville Mayor Tom Devinko spoke with The Epoch Times at the event. He said he was happy to help organize the event for Orange County and the HVEA and that the turnout was fabulous.

Devinko also said he is looking forward to having about two miles of the Schunnemunk Rail Trail go through Washingtonville.

“It’ll bring a lot of people exercising, biking, enjoying the outdoors, and hopefully it’ll have areas along the way that people could stop and enjoy our downtown area, enjoy our restaurants, and get a taste of Washingtonville,” he said.

Mayor of the Village of Washingtonville Tom Devinko at the Schunnemunk Rail Trail Project meeting in Washingtonville, N.Y., on Jan. 15, 2026. Oliver Mantyk/The Epoch Times