Orange County Planning Commissioner Alan Sorensen, during the rules committee meeting on Aug. 24, presented a draft bikeway vision to be added to the county comprehensive plan.
The vision describes a future bikeway system of seven major trails with a total length of nearly 65 miles throughout the county, connecting town centers, scenic destinations, and transit stations along the way.
These bikeways are intended to balance a county transportation system that’s currently overly centered on roads and highways and to encourage traveling modes other than cars.
“We have talked about expanding the bike network and now it is finally in its final draft form to bring back to the Legislature,” Mr. Sorensen said at the meeting, noting that the next step was to refer the draft plan to county and regional planning boards for review.
Most of the proposed bikeways are to be built on inactive railbeds, with 80 percent of the costs to be covered by federal grants and occasional state funding.
The system’s first section is the Orange County Heritage Trail, a 19 1/2-mile county trail that runs from Monroe to Middletown along the former Erie Railroad.
It took the county about 20 years to develop that trail, which is now used by half a million locals every year for running, biking, and hiking, according to an estimate by the tourism department.
Soon, the Heritage Trail will be extended to Ingrassia Road in the Town of Wallkill from downtown Middletown. Construction is expected to start next year.
Another trail in the works is the 10-mile Schunnemunk Rail Trail that runs on the abandoned Erie Railroad from the Town of Chester to Salisbury Mills-Cornwall Train Station.
